laundry: [16] Although it is better disguised than most of its relatives, laundry is one of a large family of English words derived from Latin lavāre ‘wash’ (see LAVATORY). It is a contraction of an earlier lavendry, which came via Old French lavanderie from Latin lavandārium ‘things to be washed’. By the time it reached English it had also acquired the meaning ‘place where things are washed’. => lavatory
late 14c., "place for washing;" mid-15c. "act of washing," from Old French lavanderie, from Latin lavandaria, plural of lavandarium "things to be washed," from lavare "to wash" (see lave). As a verb, from 1880. Laundry list in figurative sense is from 1958.
