ax

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See also: Ax, AX, -ax, .ax, ax̱, a꞉x, ˀa·x, and ах

English

Pronunciation

  • enPR: ăks, IPA(key): /æks/
    • (file)
  • Rhymes: -æks

Etymology 1

Noun

ax (plural axes)

  1. (American spelling) Alternative form of axe

Verb

ax (third-person singular simple present axes, present participle axing, simple past and past participle axed)

  1. (American spelling) Alternative form of axe

Etymology 2

From Middle English axen, aksen, axien, from Old English ācsian and āxian, showing metathesis from āscian. Ax/aks was common in literary works until about 1600.

Verb

ax (third-person singular simple present axes, present participle axing, simple past and past participle axed)

  1. (now nonstandard or dialectical, especially African-American Vernacular, MLE and Bermuda) Alternative form of ask
Usage notes
  • This and related forms of ask have been used since Old English and were long employed in literature and prestige dialects. Chaucer used ask, ax, and axe interchangeably. They remain in use in some rural areas of Britain and Appalachia but are now regarded as nonstandard and are primarily associated with AAVE dialects in the US and MLE or West Country dialects in the UK, as well as being in some Irish English dialects, and sometimes in New Zealand, especially among Maori English speakers.

References

Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl

Adverb

ax

  1. not

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse ax.

Pronunciation

Noun

ax n (genitive singular ax, nominative plural öx)

  1. ear (of corn)

Declension

Jamaican Creole

Verb

ax

  1. Alternative spelling of aks.
    • 2006, Amina Blackwood-Meeks, “Aiming at your dreams”, in The Jamaica Gleaner:
      “Well she sey one a de man dem come right up to har car window an show har fe him sign wid him finga, order har outa de plaza like sey it was him personal yaad an ax har if she tink sey chu hooman a go tun Prime Minista she can jus come park which part she have a mind. []
      So she said one of the men walked right up to her car window and pointed at his sign with his finger and ordered her to leave the plaza as if it were his own home. He asked her if she thought that the fact that a woman was going to become Prime Minister that she could just park anywhere she wanted to.

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English æx, æcs, from Proto-West Germanic *akusi.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

ax (plural axes)

  1. An axe (tool)
  2. An axe (weapon)
Descendants
  • English: axe, ax
  • Scots: aix
References

Etymology 2

From Old English eax, from Proto-Germanic *ahsu.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

ax (plural axes)

  1. (rare) An axle, axletree, pole
Derived terms
References

Northern Kurdish

Etymology

Akin to Persian خاک (xâk, earth, soil, dust). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs- (to be dry).

Pronunciation

Noun

ax f (Arabic spelling ئاخ)

  1. dirt, ground, soil, earth
    Synonyms: erd, xwelî
  2. dust
    Synonym: xubar
  3. matter

Declension

Derived terms

References

  • Chyet, Michael L. (2003), “ax”, in Kurdish–English Dictionary, with selected etymologies by Martin Schwartz, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, page 14

Old French

Contraction

ax

  1. Contraction of a + les (to the)

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ahsą, from *ahaz (ear (of grain)).

Noun

ax n (genitive ax, plural ǫx)

  1. ear (of corn)

Declension

Descendants

  • Icelandic: ax
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: aks
  • Norwegian Bokmål: aks
  • Old Swedish: ax
    • Swedish: ax
  • Danish: aks

References

ax”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French axe, from Latin axis.

Noun

ax n (plural axe)

  1. axle
  2. axis

Declension

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse ax.

Noun

ax n

  1. an ear (fruiting body of a grain plant)

Declension

Declension of ax 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative ax axet ax axen
Genitive ax axets ax axens

Verb

ax (present ax, preterite ax, supine ax, imperative ax)

  1. (slang) Alternative form of axa

References