Learn English – Which kind of problems are described as “That’s no rocket science”

Edited:

I think you are asking if there is a single-word idiom in English for "washing one's face".

I have never heard such an idiom. We nearly always say "wash one's face" and don't have a single word for this in English.

If you're not limited to "face", then there are other idioms one could use: the cat is bathing, the cat is washing itself, the cat is cleaning itself.

Note: I misunderstood the question originally and I gave an answer about "washing oneself as a cat might do". That answer is below:

You could say something like "(the) cat self-washes" or "(the) cat self-cleans".

The prefix self- is a little bit (a very little bit) like the Russian suffix -ся. But it's not grammaticalized; it's more of a lexically transparent bit added on to the verb.

This is a bit problematic for a couple reasons though:

1. English has articles and they are usually required. Russian doesn't have articles as such, but in English we have to say "The cat washes" or "A cat washes".

2. The English simple present tense is not used to refer to events that are currently happening. Crazy, I know. Instead we use the present progressive construction: be + verb + -ing. So instead of "The cat washes itself" we say "The cat is washing itself."

So the normal English way to express the same idea as "кот умывается" would be "The cat is washing itself" with 5 words, not 2.

In context, I took the phrase to mean dull, drab, a party-pooper.

Then I found this citation:

• [p. 159/139] "'That's 'cos you're a wet hen, Magrat Garlick,' said Granny."

When questioned about the phrase, Terry explained: "Perfectly good British slang. A 'wet hen' is bedraggled, sad and useless. Probably not as useless as a big girl's blouse, though, and better off than a lame duck."