What do those laundry symbols actually mean?

Washing symbols

The wash tub icon tells you exactly how to wash the garment, with underscored lines indicating the recommended cycle and black dots representing water temperature. An X, of course, warns to not machine wash at all.

Active family members can be hard on their gym socks, white undershirts and little league uniforms. If your whites are looking a little dingy, consult the triangle on the clothes’ label (if there is one) for bleaching instructions.

Drying symbols

Laundry symbols will tell you not just how to wash, but also how to dry. First, determine whether the item should be air or tumble dried. The lines inside the square will tell you how an item should be air dried. (Surprisingly, there’s more than one way to do it.)

If it can be tumble dried (dried in a dryer), the symbol will also tell you how. Just like with wash symbols, underscored lines indicate cycle and black dots represent temperature. Once again, the symbol will be X’d out if you shouldn’t tumble dry at all.

If you're wondering if you should add dryer sheets to your load, read our article about what dryer sheets do.

Ironing Symbols

With dryer innovations like Permanent Press and Whirlpool brand’s Wrinkle Shield^™ option, ironing in modern life is practically unnecessary. But if a particular piece of clothing requires it, or you still like crisp creases in your pants, these ironing symbols, shaped like an old-fashioned iron, will recommend exactly how to do it.

Dry cleaning symbols

Despite how far we’ve come with home dryer technology, some garments are still best left to the professionals. A simple circle will tell you whether the item should be dry cleaned or not.