Skip to content

batya

laundry tub

noun BAT-ya Spanish origin Less Common

Usage Note

Batya is a Spanish loanword (from batea) for the traditional shallow basin used for hand-washing clothes in Filipino households. Before electric washing machines became widespread, washing by the batya was a daily domestic ritual, and the term remains common in informal and rural settings.

Examples

Beginner

" May tubig sa batya. "

Natural Translation

There is water in the laundry tub.

Literal Translation

Have water in laundry-tub.

Intermediate

" Naglalaba ang ate sa batya sa labas ng bahay. "

Natural Translation

My older sister is doing laundry in the tub outside the house.

Literal Translation

Doing-laundry the older-sister in-the laundry-tub outside of-the house.

Advanced

" Bago pa magkaroon ng washing machine, buong umaga kaming naglalaba sa batya sa likod ng bahay. "

Natural Translation

Before we even had a washing machine, we used to do laundry in the tub at the back of the house all morning.

Literal Translation

Before still have of washing machine, whole morning we doing-laundry in laundry-tub at back of house.

Free · iOS & Android

Take Tagalog with you

The full course, a 12,500-word dictionary, and flashcards that make every word stick — free to start on iOS and Android.

Tagalog builds thousands of words from a few hundred roots.

How Tagalog words work

Explore Tagalog by topic

Free guides on grammar, vocabulary, and culture to take you past single-word lookups.