ax

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

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: ăks, IPA^(key): /æks/

  • Audio (UK):

    (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 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, Bermuda) 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?

   • 1836, Joanna Baillie, The Alienated Manor, Act 4:

     Dolly: And if so be, why did you ax me to keep you company? Housekeeper wants me below to pick raisins.

   • 1879, William Barnes, “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.’

Usage notes

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, Fourth Edition (2000), the form ax is now associated with African American Vernacular English, but in the past it was common among “white” Americans as well, especially in New England, and is a feature of some British dialects. It was a common word in English for a thousand years (Chaucer used both forms interchangeably), but is now stigmatized as nonstandard. This is similar to the case of words like ain't which were also acceptable in the past.

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Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl

Adverb

ax

1. not

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Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse ax

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /axs/
• IPA^(key): /aks/

Noun

ax n (genitive singular ax, nominative plural öx)

1. ear (of corn)

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Jamaican Creole

Verb

ax

1. Alternative spelling of aks.
   • 2006, Amina Blackwood-Meeks, “Aiming at your dreams”, in The Jamaica Gleaner‎^[1]:

     “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. […]

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Middle English

Etymology 1

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

Alternative forms

• axe, ex, exe
• (early) 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 *ahsu.

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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Old Norse

Etymology

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

Noun

ax n (genitive ax, plural ǫx)

1. ear (of corn)

Declension

  Declension of ax (strong a-stem)

neuter	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	ax	axit	ǫx	ǫxin
accusative	ax	axit	ǫx	ǫxin
dative	axi	axinu	ǫxum	ǫxunum
genitive	ax	axins	axa	axanna

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

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Romanian

Etymology

From French axe, from Latin axis.

Noun

ax n (plural axe)

1. axle
2. axis

Declension

Declension of ax

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) ax	axul	(niște) axe	axele
genitive/dative	(unui) ax	axului	(unor) axe	axelor
vocative	axule		axelor

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Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse ax

Noun

ax n

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

Declension

Declension of ax

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	ax	ax
	definite	axet	axets
plural	indefinite	ax	ax
	definite	axen	axens