axis of evil

English

Etymology

Coined by American speechwriter David Frum in 2002 and first used publicly by President George W. Bush in the 2002 State of the Union Address. Possibly from a historical analogy to the German-Italian-Japanese Axis. Extended to astrophysics by João Magueijo in 2005.

Noun

axis of evil (plural axes of evil)

1. A group of states accused by George W. Bush of sponsoring terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction, originally defined as Iran, Iraq, and North Korea.
2. (astrophysics, cosmology) An anomaly in the temperature of the cosmic microwave background as the result of a preferential axis which may have shaped the development of the universe, sometimes abbreviated AOE.

Translations

states sponsoring terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction

• Arabic: مِحْوَر اَلشَّرّ m (miḥwar aš-šarr)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 邪惡軸心／邪恶轴心 (zh) (xié'è zhóuxīn), 邪恶轴心 (zh) (xié'è zhóuxīn)

• Dutch: as van het kwaad
• Finnish: pahan akseli
• French: axe du mal m
• Georgian: ბოროტების ღერძი (boroṭebis ɣerʒi)
• German: Achse des Bösen f
• Greek: άξονας του κακού (áxonas tou kakoú)
• Hebrew: ציר הרשע
• Italian: asse della malvagità
• Japanese: 悪の枢軸 (あくのすうじく, aku no sūjiku)
• Korean: 악의 주축 (ag-ui juchuk)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: axis mali
• Latvian: ļaunuma ass
• Macedonian: оска на злото f (oska na zloto)
• Persian: محور شرارت
• Polish: oś zła f
• Portuguese: eixo do mal m
• Russian: ось зла f (osʹ zla)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: осовина зла f

  Roman: osovina zla f

• Spanish: eje del mal m
• Swedish: ondskans axelmakter

See also

• (astrophysics): dark flow, CMB cold spot