Example sentences
yī衣fu服xǐ洗le了ma吗？
Did you wash the clothes?
wǒ我xǐ洗gè个zǎo澡。
I'll take a shower.
The story behind the character
洗
洗 is 氵 (water) with 先 supplying the sound. Xu Shen's definition is oddly narrow: 洒足也, to wash the feet. That was the job 洗 was hired for. Your hands, your hair, your car and your laundry all had to wait for other words. The foot wash got promoted, and now it covers everything wet you have to clean.