Laundry Symbol Decoder
Decode any laundry care label symbol by shape — washing, bleaching, drying, ironing, or dry cleaning.
Reviewed by the ToolNestr Editorial Team — July 2026
How laundry symbols work
Care labels use five basic shapes, each representing one type of care instruction: a tub for washing, a triangle for bleaching, a square for drying, an iron outline for ironing, and a circle for professional dry cleaning. Within each shape, dots indicate temperature or heat level, lines underneath indicate a gentler cycle, and an X drawn through the symbol means that action should not be done at all.
This system, standardized internationally through ISO 3758 and promoted by GINETEX, lets a garment carry care instructions understandable across languages without needing translated text — though US labels under ASTM D5489 sometimes show an exact temperature number inside the wash tub instead of the international dot system.
Symbol meanings follow the ISO 3758 international textile care labeling code and the equivalent ASTM D5489 standard used in the US.
Worked example
A care label shows a tub with a hand inside, a triangle with two diagonal lines, a square with a circle and one dot, an iron with one dot, and a circle with an X.
Real-world context
Buying secondhand or imported clothing without English-language care text is one of the most common reasons someone needs to decode symbols directly, since the pictogram system is intentionally language-independent — a garment made in one country and sold in another still carries the same universally readable shapes.
Delicate or expensive garments (silk, wool, structured formalwear) are where misreading a symbol has the highest cost — tumble drying something marked for line drying only, or machine washing something marked dry-clean-only, can shrink, felt, or otherwise permanently damage a garment that's expensive or impossible to replace.
Common misconceptions
"An empty triangle means do not bleach." The opposite. An empty (plain) triangle means bleaching is allowed with any bleach; it's only a triangle with an X through it that means no bleach at all.
"All care symbols are identical worldwide with no variation." Mostly, but not entirely. The shapes and general logic are internationally standardized, but the US system's use of exact numbers versus the international system's dot-based scale is a real, practical difference worth knowing.
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Frequently asked questions
What do the dots inside a wash tub or iron symbol mean?
Dots indicate temperature level rather than an exact number in the international (ISO/GINETEX) symbol system: for washing, one dot is about 30°C, up to six dots for the hottest setting; for ironing, one dot is a low/synthetic setting, two dots medium/wool, and three dots high/cotton-linen.
What is the difference between the US and international symbol systems?
US care labels (following ASTM D5489) commonly show an exact temperature number inside the wash tub symbol, while the international system (ISO 3758, used by GINETEX) more often uses dots to indicate a temperature range rather than a precise number — the shapes themselves (tub, triangle, square, iron, circle) are consistent across both systems.
What does a circle mean on a care label?
A circle represents professional dry cleaning. A letter inside the circle (like P or F) tells a professional dry cleaner which solvent to use; an empty circle means dry clean with any solvent, and a circle with an X means do not dry clean.
What if a symbol has a line underneath it?
A single line underneath a washing, drying, or other symbol generally means "use a reduced/gentle setting" (like a permanent press cycle), and two lines underneath typically mean an even gentler setting (like a delicate/hand-wash-equivalent cycle).