Money Laundering Borrowed Its Name From Clean Washing
Laundry is washing, and the place it is done. The financial crime named after it works on the same principle: dirty money comes out looking clean.
Laundry means clothes to be washed, the washing itself, or the room and business that do it. The metaphor that made the word famous is criminal: *money laundering* passes illegal money through legitimate businesses so that it emerges apparently clean, and the name was popularised in reporting on organised crime in the twentieth century.
- Clothes for washing. *A basket of laundry.*
- The place where washing is done. *The hotel laundry.*
- Money laundering — disguising the origin of illegal money. *Charged with money laundering.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | laundry | Do the laundry. |
| Plural | laundries | Industrial laundries. |
| Verb | launder | Launder the sheets. |
| Person | launderer | A money launderer. |
| Compound | launderette | The corner launderette. |
How it is used in a sentence
- I still have the laundry to do.Uncountable.
- The funds were laundered through property.The financial sense.
- There is a launderette on the corner.American English says laundromat.
Washing words
- Laundry — the clothes or the process
- Launderette / laundromat — a coin-operated shop
- Dry cleaning — cleaning with solvent instead of water
- Airing cupboard — a British warm cupboard for drying
- Fabric conditioner — softener added in the rinse
From Middle English *lavendry*, from Old French, from Latin *lavandaria*, things to be washed, from *lavare*, to wash — the same root as *lavatory*, *lava* and *lavish*.
Where does *money laundering* come from?
From the image of dirty money coming out clean. The phrase spread through American press coverage of organised crime and became a legal term in the 1980s.
Launderette or laundromat?
Launderette is British, laundromat American. Laundromat began as a trade name.