flaxen

English

Etymology

From Middle English flaxen, flexon, flexin, from Old English fleaxen (“of flax; flaxen”), equivalent to flax +‎ -en (“made of”). Compare Dutch vlassen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈflæk.sən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æksən

Adjective

flaxen

1. Made of or resembling flax fibers.
2. (of hair) A pale yellow brown as of dried flax; blonde.

   flaxen:  

   The couple and their children have flaxen hair.

   • 2005, Nathan J. Johnson, Robert J. Wallis, Galdrbok: Practical Heathen Runecraft, Shamanism and Magic, page 309:

     In Snorri's Skaldskaparmal (see Faulkes 1998 [1987]: 96), Loki cropped Sif’s (presumably blonde or flaxen) hair, seemingly out of spite, a cropping which compares to the harvesting of corn.

Derived terms

• flaxenish

Translations

material

• Bulgarian: ленен (bg) (lenen)
• Danish: hørfarvet
• Dutch: vlassen (nl)
• Finnish: pellavainen
• German: flachsen (de)
• Ingrian: pellovain
• Japanese: 亜麻製の (あませいの, amasei no)
• Latin: līneus
• Middle English: flaxen
• Polish: lniany (pl) m
• Russian: льняно́й (ru) (lʹnjanój), льно́вый (ru) (lʹnóvyj)

color

• Bulgarian: светложълт (bg) (svetložălt)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 亚麻色

• Dutch: vlasblond (nl)
• Finnish: pellavan värinen
• French: de lin
• German: flachsfarben (de)
• Hungarian: lenszőke (hu)
• Irish: buíbhán, fionn (of hair)
• Japanese: 亜麻色の (ja) (あまいろの, amairo no)
• Latin: flāvus (la)
• Māori: kōrito (of hair)
• Polish: lniany (pl) m, jasnobrązowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: cor de linho f
• Swedish: lingul (sv)
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: صاری (sarı)

See also

• blond
• linen
• tow, towhead
• Appendix:Colors

Middle English

Alternative forms

• flexin, flexon

Etymology

Inherited from Old English fleaxen; equivalent to flax +‎ -en (“made of”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈflaksən/, /flɛksən/

Adjective

flaxen

1. Flaxen; made out of flax.

Descendants

• English: flaxen
• Yola: vlaxen

References

• “flexen, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.