Meaning: wash

Illustrative Context

She washed her hands.

Target Sense

• The most basic verb for wash in the prototypical sense of cleaning specifically with water.
• The target sense is thus a hyponym to the vaguer, more general meaning of the English lexeme clean, since that is not specific as to whether the cleaning is done with water. The target lexeme in English is thus only wash, and not clean.
• The lexeme entered must at least be applicable in the illustrative context, i.e. a prototypical case of somebody removing dirt from a part of the body, using water (and irrespective of whether any other particular means of cleaning is also used, e.g. soap, a cloth, etc.).
• This should be the basic verb root that would be applied to washing part of one’s own body, prototypically one’s hands as in the illustrative context. Nonetheless, where possible provide just the verb root (or stem) without additional explicitly reflexive morphemes, e.g. French laver rather than se laver.
• As a generic term, in most languages this lexeme will typically be applicable more widely, e.g. to washing the whole body, someone else’s body, or indeed objects such as clothes, dishes, and so on. Avoid, however, additional lexemes specific to washing particular types of object.
• Indeed, avoid any narrower terms more specific in any sense, e.g. bathe (washing specifically by immersion), rinse (washing off with ample water), wipe (with water applied by a cloth), ritual forms of washing or ‘ablution’, animals licking themselves clean, etc..