bucato

Bucato is an Italian term with several related meanings. The most common usage is as a noun referring to laundry—the clothes and linens that have been washed or are to be washed. In everyday speech, people say fare il bucato to mean doing the laundry, which can include washing, drying, and sometimes ironing. The word can also denote the load of laundry itself, for example when talking about a batch of items to wash.

The same form, bucato, also exists as the past participle of the verb bucere, meaning to bore or to punch a hole. In this sense, bucato describes something punctured or full of holes, as in un pneumatico bucato (a punctured tire). The form changes with gender and number (bucata, bucati, bucate) to agree with the noun it modifies.

In usage, bucato is standard in Italian and widely understood across regions. It is distinct from related terms such as panni per il bucato (laundry items) and lavatrice (washing machine), which are used in more technical or household contexts. The word is primarily a practical everyday term, though it also appears in literature and media to convey ordinary domestic life.