semiatic
50

Wash at 50 °C

Machine wash in water up to 50 °C on a normal cycle. The list GINETEX publishes for the current ISO 3758:2023 edition has no 50 °C tub, so you will mostly meet this limit on older labels and on North American labels, where it is drawn as three dots.

What to do

Few machines have a 50 °C step: pick 40 °C, which is always within the label, rather than rounding up to 60 °C.

Maximum temperature
50 °C (122 °F) wash water
Family
Washing (tub)
ISO 3758 name
Washing, maximum 50 °C, normal process
Distinguishing mark
50

On US and Canadian labels

North American labels draw this limit as three dots in the tub (50 °C, about 120 °F, described as hot).

Often confused with

Machine wash up to 50 °C on a gentler cycle with reduced agitation (one bar). Like the plain 50 °C tub, it is absent from GINETEX's list for ISO 3758:2023 and turns up on older and North American labels.

Other washing symbols

Sources

Meanings are paraphrased from these sources, not quoted, and checked on the date shown.