ax

See also: AX, Ax, ax̱, .ax, -ax, and ах

English

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

Noun

ax (plural axes)

1. (US) Alternative spelling of axe

Verb

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

1. Alternative spelling of axe

Etymology 2

From Old English acsian/axian, showing metathesis from ascian. Ax/aks was the regular literary form until about 1600.

Verb

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

1. (now dialectal or nonstandard, especially African American Vernacular) Alternative form of ask
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts I:

     When they were come togedder, they axed off hym, sayinge: Master wilt thou at this tyme restore agayne the kyngdom of israhel?

   • 1879, Barnes, William, “The Welshnut Tree”, in Complete Poems of William Barnes, volume 1, page 106:

     Ar try who'l ax em the hardest riddle, / Ar soonest vind out oone put us, true;

   • 1979, Verna Mae Slone, What My Heart Wants to Tell, Kentucky 1988, p. 18:

     ‘I axed him if he knowed the way and he said he had not fergitten the lay of the land.’

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Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse ax, from Proto-Germanic *ahsą.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /axs/
• IPA^(key): /aks/

Noun

ax n (genitive singular ax, nominative plural öx)

1. ear (of corn)

Declension

declension of ax

n-s	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	ax	axið	öx	öxin
accusative	ax	axið	öx	öxin
dative	axi	axinu	öxum	öxunum
genitive	ax	axins	axa	axanna

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Jamaican Creole

Alternative forms

• aax, hax

Verb

ax

1. ask

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Middle English

Etymology 1

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

Alternative forms

• axe, ex, exe, æxæ, æxe

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aks/
• Rhymes: -aks

Noun

ax (plural axes)

2. An axe (tool)
3. An axe (weapon)

Descendants

• English: axe, ax
• Scots: aix

References

• “ax(e (n.(1))” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-24.

Etymology 2

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

Alternative forms

• ȝex

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aks/
• Rhymes: -aks

Noun

ax (plural axes)

2. (rare) An axle, axletree, pole

Derived terms

• extre

References

• “ax(e (n.(2))” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-24.

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Old French

Contraction

ax

1. Contraction of a + les (to the)

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Swedish

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