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Dhobi ghat

The word dhobighaat or dhobi ghat is used throughout South Central Asia to refer to any laundry-place or washing-place where many launderers or clothes-washers are present; they may be ordinary people or professionals (traditionally men) who use the place to wash clothes.

Etymology

Dhoby ghaut or dhobī ghāṭ (Hindi: धोबी घाट, Punjabi: ਧੋਬੀ ਘਾਟ, Tamil: தோபி காட்) literally means "washing place" in Hindi, from dhobī "washerman" or one that does laundry, and ghāṭ, generically meaning a large open space, and a water-course, pond, wharf or berth.

Dhobi ghat has also come to be used as a place name in many different towns, and sometimes the name of a whole area - for obvious reasons. These names may persist after the disappearance of the original function of the place.

Although the differences are subtle, a lavoir in Europe is usually an officially-constructed public washing-place in a village, frequently walled or enclosed, and often roofed. A laundry on the other hand is an organisation providing laundry service or a place where clothes are washed, while a laundromat or launderette is a place with mechanised or automated laundry machines, usually but not always self-service.

See also

• Mahalaxshmi Dhobi Ghat the large, central, dhobi ghat, in Mumbai.
• Dhobi Ghaut a district in Singapore.
• Dhoby Ghaut, Penang, Malaysia.
• List_of_laundry_topics.

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