Soak
The laundry is left to stand in the water for longer before the main wash starts, to loosen dirt and stains.
What it is for
Heavily soiled or stained items such as grass stains, food and ground-in dirt. It lengthens the programme.
Makes differ, check your machine’s manual: the same drawing can mean different things on different brands, and only your model’s manual says exactly what a programme does, how hot and how long.
- What it looks like
- A wash tub with a single wavy water line low in it — water standing still rather than pouring in.
- Names makers use
- Soaking (Bosch); Soak (hOn); Bubble Soak (Samsung)
Where makes differ
Bosch draws a tub with a low wavy line; hOn says soak or prewash is “identified by a water-filled basin”, so on some machines one icon covers both. Samsung’s Bubble Soak is a lit option rather than a drawing and is sold for “a wide variety of stubborn stains”.
Often confused with
Adds a short, cooler wash before the main wash, using detergent from compartment I of the drawer.
Other symbols with the same shapes
Sources
No single published standard defines washing-machine or dryer programme icons, so this meaning is taken from 3 makers’ own guides and manuals, each fetched and read on the date shown:
- Bosch: Bosch Home UK — Washing machine symbols guide — Soaking symbol (a tub with a low wavy line): “Before the main wash cycle starts, the laundry remains in the water for longer.” Checked 2026-09-25.
- hOn (Haier Europe): hOn — Washing Machine Symbols: how to interpret them with hOn — “Soak or prewash: identified by a water-filled basin.” Checked 2026-09-25.
- Samsung: Samsung UK support — What do the symbols on my Samsung washing machine mean? — Bubble Soak: the light next to this symbol lights when the function is on; “helps remove a wide variety of stubborn stains.” Checked 2026-09-25.
Written in our own words; quotations are the makers’ wording.