What does this symbol on my washing machine or dryer mean?
Find it by its shape. 1. Pick what you see on the dial or display. 2. Match the drawing. Each of the 30 symbols here — programmes, options, status lights and tumble-dryer warnings — is backed by at least two makers’ own guides or manuals.
Tap a shape — the symbols that use it appear here.
Fibre, yarn or leaf — 6 symbols
CottonsA cotton boll — a round fluffy head of three or four lobes on a…Eco 40-60Two leaves on one stem, the word ECO, or green arrows; some…Synthetics (easy care)A laboratory flask or beaker — a narrow neck widening to a flat…Mixed (cotton and synthetics together)The synthetics flask with a T-shirt beside it.WoolA ball of yarn — a circle wrapped in curved strands with a loose…Delicates and silkA butterfly: two pairs of rounded wings either side of a thin body.
T-shirt, iron or wardrobe — 5 symbols
Mixed (cotton and synthetics together)The synthetics flask with a T-shirt beside it.Iron: easy iron (washer) or iron dry (dryer)A plain iron seen from the side — a pointed sole plate and a…Add garment (reload)A T-shirt with a plus sign (Samsung). Bosch uses the drum with a…Cupboard dryA wardrobe: a tall box split by a line down the middle into two…Anti-crease (dryer)Bosch: the drum with two curved arrows turning inside it. AEG: a…
A tub or basin — 6 symbols
Hand wash (hand in a tub)On a dial, the hand in a tub marks the gentle hand-wash programme…Explained on its own page →PrewashA wash tub with a single vertical line dropping into it — the…SoakA wash tub with a single wavy water line low in it — water…RinseA wash tub with water pouring or spraying into it from above — a…Extra rinseThe rinse tub or sink with a small plus sign above or beside it.Drain (spin and drain)A wash tub with an arrow pointing down through it.
A spiral — 1 symbol
A clock or hourglass — 4 symbols
Quick wash (rapid, express)A clock face with three short horizontal lines trailing off one…Delay start (end time)A clock face, often with a curved arrow round it. Beko uses an…Hourglass (time left, or delay)An hourglass — two triangles meeting at a narrow waist — next to…Timed dryA clock on a tumble-dryer panel; AEG adds small heat waves beside it.
A key or padlock — 2 symbols
A round drum — 3 symbols
Tank, filter or grid — 3 symbols
Steam, snowflake, spray or fan — 4 symbols
Cold wash (snowflake)A six-armed snowflake, alone or in place of a temperature number.IntensiveBosch draws a fan of water jets with a plus above; many machines…Steam and steam refreshA cloud, or wavy lines rising like vapour; Hoover’s Fresh Care is…Cooling phase (dryer)AEG: a three-bladed fan. Bosch shows the word Hot on its display…
Before you trust any chart, including this one
No single published standard defines washing-machine or dryer programme icons. Each maker draws its own — Hoover draws cottons as a ball of cotton, hOn as a T-shirt or cotton flower, Hotpoint and Miele mostly print the programme’s name — so every meaning on this page is taken from manufacturers’ manuals and support pages.
- A dial is not a care label. The tub, hand and iron on a dial name a programme or option; the same shapes on a garment’s label are instructions under ISO 3758. The label says what the garment can take — read it by shape here.
- The label’s number is a maximum. Hotpoint’s guide puts it this way: “Follow the instructions on the symbols of the garment’s wash care label. The value indicated in the symbol is the maximum recommended temperature for washing the garment.” (Hotpoint, checked 2026-09-25).
- Makes reuse shapes. A key is child lock on Bosch and Hoover but can be the door lock on Samsung; an hourglass is time remaining on Samsung and a delayed start on Beko; an iron is easy iron on a washer and iron dry on a dryer.
- Many machines print words, not drawings. Hotpoint and Miele mostly name their programmes; the drawings here are for the machines that do not.
What this page cannot do
- It cannot identify a specific model or say what a given machine’s programme does exactly — temperatures, times and spin speeds differ between models of the same make. It tells you what a drawing means on the makes cited (AEG, Beko, Bosch, hOn (Haier Europe), Hoover, Hotpoint, Miele, Samsung, Whirlpool); your model’s manual is the authority.
- It cannot say which programme a given garment needs beyond what its care label and the maker’s manual say. Where a manual ties a programme to a care label, the programme page quotes it.
- It does not decode error codes (such as E20 or F05), which are different for every make.
- Symbols that only one maker’s page shows or names — for example Bosch’s foam-detection and tap symbols, AEG’s sun for extra dry, and dedicated baby, duvet, shirts and jeans programme icons whose drawings no source describes — are left out until a second maker’s page confirms the drawing.
Sources
Every page below is a maker’s own guide, support page or manual, fetched and read on the date shown. Each symbol page lists what its sources show.
- Hoover: Hoover UK — What do the symbols on your washing machine actually mean? Checked 2026-09-25.
- hOn (Haier Europe): hOn — Washing Machine Symbols: how to interpret them with hOn Checked 2026-09-25.
- Beko: Beko UK — WI 1382 washing machine user’s manual (PDF) Checked 2026-09-25.
- Hotpoint: Hotpoint washing machine Quick Guide (GB, PDF) Checked 2026-09-25.
- Miele: Miele — Operating instructions for washing machines, WWV 980 WPS Passion (PDF) Checked 2026-09-25.
- Bosch: Bosch Home UK — Washing machine symbols guide Checked 2026-09-25.
- Samsung: Samsung UK support — What do the symbols on my Samsung washing machine mean? Checked 2026-09-25.
- Bosch: Bosch Home UK — Tumble dryer symbols and settings Checked 2026-09-25.
- AEG: AEG — LAVATHERM 7DEE835R / 7DEE832R tumble dryer user manual (PDF) Checked 2026-09-25.
- Whirlpool: Whirlpool product help — Control Panel Symbols and Usage, Compact Heat Pump Dryer Checked 2026-09-25.