wash one's hands

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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˌwɒʃ wʌnz ˈhæn(d)z/
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• General-American: /ˌwɔʃ wʌnz ˈhæn(d)z/
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• Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˌwɒʃ wʌnz ˈhæn(d)z‿əv/
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• General-American: /ˌwɔʃ wʌnz ˈhæn(d)z‿əv/
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• Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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The figurative sense comes from the account in Matthew 27:24 of the Bible in which Pontius Pilate, unwilling to condemn Jesus who has committed no crime but whose crucifixion the crowd has called for, symbolically washes his hands in public and says (according to the King James Version; spelling modernized): “I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.” Another literal and figurative usage of the expression can be traced to Deuteronomy 21:6 where the elders of Israel are commanded to "wash their hands" as part of a ceremonial absolution ritual initiated upon the discovery of a corpse outside the jurisdiction of any city.

29 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Arabic: غَسَلَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ (ḡasala yadayhi mina l-ʔamri) — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Catalan: rentar-se'n les mans — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Catalan: rentar-se'n les mans com Pilat — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Chinese Mandarin: 金盆洗手 (jīnpénxǐshǒu) — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Dutch: de handen in onschuld wassen — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Finnish: pestä kätensä — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• French: se laver les mains de — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• German: die Hände in Unschuld waschen — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Greek: νίπτω τας χείρας μου (nípto tas cheíras mou) — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Hungarian: mossa kezeit — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Icelandic: láta sigla sinn sjó — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Icelandic: þvo hendur sínar af — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Indonesian: cuci tangan — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Italian: lavarsene le mani — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Japanese: 手を引く (te o hiku) — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Korean: 손씻다 (sonssitda) — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Korean: 손떼다 (sontteda) — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Macedonian: ми́е ра́це од (míe ráce od) — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Malay: cuci tangan — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Polish: umywać ręce — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Portuguese: lavar as mãos — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Portuguese: redimir-se de — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Russian: умыть руки (umytʹ ruki) — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Russian: умывать руки (umyvatʹ ruki) — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Spanish: lavarse las manos — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Spanish: desentenderse — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Swedish: två sina händer — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Tagalog: maghugas-kamay — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for
• Telugu: చేతులు కడుగుకొను (cētulu kaḍugukonu) — to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for