Laundry symbols, decoded
Tap the symbols you see on the tag. WashCodes reads them together and gives you one plain-English plan — the careful reading, never a loosened one.
Tap symbols below — your wash plan prints here.
Wash
Bleach
Tumble dry & air dry
Iron
Dry clean
Tap the tag. Get the plan.
Every laundry symbol, in plain English
Five families cover the whole tag: the washtub speaks for water, the triangle for bleach, the square for drying, the iron for ironing, and the circle for the dry cleaner. Dots mean heat — more dots, more heat. Bars underneath mean a gentler cycle. A cross through anything means don’t.
Wash symbols
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Machine wash · washtub
Machine washing is fine — any normal cycle, and any temperature unless dots inside the tub say otherwise.
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Machine wash cold · washtub with one dot
Machine wash cold — water up to 30°C, about 85°F.
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Machine wash warm · washtub with two dots
Machine wash warm — water up to 40°C, about 105°F.
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Machine wash hot · washtub with three dots
Machine wash hot — water up to 50°C, about 120°F.
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Machine wash, 60°C · washtub with four dots
Machine wash up to 60°C (140°F) — a heavy-duty setting mostly seen on bedding, towels, and workwear.
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Machine wash, 70°C · washtub with five dots
Machine wash up to 70°C (160°F) — a sanitizing-level wash, rare on home garment tags.
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Machine wash, 95°C · washtub with six dots
Machine wash up to 95°C (200°F) — near-boiling, reserved for things like hospital linens.
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Machine wash, permanent press · washtub with one bar beneath
Use the permanent press cycle — a normal wash with a cool-down rinse and slower spin.
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Machine wash, gentle · washtub with two bars beneath
Use the gentle or delicate cycle — slow agitation and a slow spin.
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Hand wash · washtub with a hand
Wash by hand in cool water — the tag is telling you to keep it out of the machine.
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Do not wash · washtub crossed out
Don't wash it at home at all — water itself is the problem. This is a garment for the cleaner.
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Do not wring · twisted garment crossed out
Don't twist or wring the water out — press it out flat between towels instead.
Bleach symbols
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Any bleach okay · open triangle
Any bleach is okay when you need it, chlorine included.
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Non-chlorine bleach only · triangle with two diagonal lines
Only non-chlorine bleach — the oxygen or color-safe kind — and only when needed.
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Do not bleach · triangle crossed out
No bleach of any kind — not even the color-safe kind.
Tumble dry & air dry symbols
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Tumble dry · square with a circle
Tumble drying is fine — any heat, unless dots inside the circle say otherwise.
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Tumble dry, no heat · square with a filled circle
Tumble dry on air only — no heat at all.
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Tumble dry low · square with a circle and one dot
Tumble dry on low heat.
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Tumble dry medium · square with a circle and two dots
Tumble dry on medium heat.
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Tumble dry high · square with a circle and three dots
Tumble dry on high heat — the fabric can take your dryer's hottest setting.
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Tumble dry, permanent press · square with a circle, one bar beneath
Tumble dry on the permanent press setting — medium heat with a cool-down at the end.
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Tumble dry, gentle · square with a circle, two bars beneath
Tumble dry on the gentle cycle — low heat and gentler tumbling.
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Do not tumble dry · square with a circle, crossed out
Keep it out of the dryer — air dry instead.
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Line dry · square with a hanging curve
Hang it on a line or bar to dry.
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Drip dry · square with three vertical lines
Hang it up soaking wet and let it drip — no wringing or spinning first.
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Dry flat · square with a horizontal center line
Lay it flat on a towel or rack to dry.
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Dry in shade · square with two diagonal lines in the corner
Dry it out of direct sunlight — it rides along with a line-dry or flat-dry symbol.
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Do not dry · empty square crossed out
Don't dry it yourself by any method — it appears on garments that shouldn't be home-washed either.
Iron symbols
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Iron, any temperature · iron
Ironing is fine at any temperature, with or without steam.
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Iron, low heat · iron with one dot
Iron on low — up to about 110°C — for acetate, acrylic, and nylon.
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Iron, medium heat · iron with two dots
Iron on medium — up to about 150°C — for wool, silk, and polyester blends.
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Iron, high heat · iron with three dots
Iron on high — up to about 200°C — for cotton and linen.
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Do not iron · iron crossed out
Don't iron it at all — no pressing, no steam.
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Iron without steam · iron with crossed-out steam beneath
Iron dry — steam is the problem, not the heat.
Dry clean symbols
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Dry clean · open circle
Dry cleaning works for this garment — any normal solvent and process.
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Dry clean, P solvents · circle with the letter P
Dry clean with perchloroethylene or hydrocarbon solvents — the P is an instruction to your cleaner, not to you.
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Dry clean, F solvents · circle with the letter F
Dry clean with petroleum solvent only — a gentler process your cleaner knows by the letter F.
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Dry clean, P solvents, gentle · circle with the letter P, one bar beneath
Dry clean in P solvents on a reduced, gentler process — the bar under the circle asks the cleaner to go easy.
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Professional wet clean · circle with the letter W
Professional wet cleaning — a cleaner's controlled water process, not a home wash.
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Do not dry clean · circle crossed out
No dry cleaning — the solvents themselves damage this garment.
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Do not wet clean · circle with the letter W, crossed out
No professional wet cleaning — solvent-based cleaning is the only professional route.
Questions people actually ask
What does the triangle mean on a laundry tag?
Bleach. An open triangle means any bleach is okay when needed; two diagonal lines inside mean non-chlorine (color-safe) bleach only; a crossed-out triangle means no bleach of any kind.
What do the dots on laundry symbols mean?
Heat. More dots mean more heat, wherever they appear: inside the washtub they set water temperature, inside the dryer circle they set dryer heat, on the iron they set soleplate temperature. Fewer dots is always allowed.
What do the bars under a laundry symbol mean?
A gentler machine cycle. One bar means permanent press; two bars mean the gentle or delicate cycle. They appear under both the washtub and the dryer square.
What if two symbols on my tag seem to disagree?
Read them the careful way: the coldest water, the lowest heat, the gentlest cycle among them. That is exactly how this decoder combines symbols — and when any chart and your tag disagree, the tag wins.