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今日ふくを洗う。 今日ふくを洗濯する。

昨日食器を洗った。 昨日食器を洗濯した。

I know that 洗濯する means: washing or laundering (clothes). And 洗う just means
washing. When I'm talking about washing in general can I use the two words
interchangeably? When do I have to use one word as opposed to the other?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-29T23:48:58.393
9872
2012-12-30T15:52:08.993
2012-12-30T15:02:48.007
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question
word-choice verbs
When to use 洗濯する and 洗う？
(I moved my old comment to this answer with more detail.)

洗う is a verb and 洗濯 is a noun. I assume that you want to compare 洗う and 洗濯する,
which are both verbs.

When you are talking about washing _in general_ , you cannot use 洗濯する because
洗濯する is only for washing _clothes_ (as you wrote by yourself!). For example,
it is incorrect to say 食器を洗濯する.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-30T00:24:59.773
9873
2012-12-30T00:24:59.773
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answer