ax
English
Pronunciation
- enPR: ăks, IPA(key): /æks/
Audio (UK) (file)
- Rhymes: -æks
Noun
ax (plural axes)
- (American spelling) Alternative form of axe
Verb
ax (third-person singular simple present axes, present participle axing, simple past and past participle axed)
- (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)
- (now nonstandard or dialectical, especially African-American Vernacular and Bermuda) Alternative form of ask
- c. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Knight's Tale", Canterbury Tales (Ellesmere MS), ll. 1346–52:
- NOw loueres axe I now this question
Who hath the worse Arcite or Palamon?
That oon may seen his lady day by day
But in prison he moot dwelle alway
That oother wher hym list may ride or go
But seen his lady shal he neuere mo
- NOw loueres axe I now this question
- 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], OCLC 762018299, Acts ]:
- 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, volume 1, page 106:
- Ar try who'l ax em the hardest riddle,
Ar soonest vind out oone put us, true...
- 1887, Gilbert and Sullivan, Ruddigore, Act 1:
- Richard Dauntless: "But, axin' your pardon, miss, might I be permitted to salute the flag I'm a-goin' to sail under?"
- 1979, Verna Mae Slone, What My Heart Wants to Tell, p. 18:
- ‘I axed him if he knowed the way and he said he had not fergitten the lay of the land.’
- 2006 Sept. 17, David Mills, "Soft Eyes", The Wire, 00:19:01:
- Wise: Your boy left here a while ago
Johnson: I ain' lookin' for him. He at his granmother's. I wanted to ax you somethin'.
- Wise: Your boy left here a while ago
- 2013 September 5, James Burton, The Bermuda Sun:
- He's cool. Does triathlons dahn de Sahn. Don't drink. Ax me if I want a lift to de beach — he hurd it's a dahnce goin on dahn thurr.
- c. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Knight's Tale", Canterbury Tales (Ellesmere MS), ll. 1346–52:
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 primarily associated with AAVE dialects in the US and MLE dialects in the UK.
References
- McWhorter, John. "The 'Ax' versus 'Ask' Question", LA Times, 19 Jan. 2014.
Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl
Adverb
ax
- not
Icelandic
Etymology
From Old Norse ax.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /axs/, /aks/
Noun
ax n (genitive singular ax, nominative plural öx)
- ear (of corn)
Declension
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 |
Jamaican Creole
Verb
ax
- 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
- axe, ex, exe
- (early) æxæ, æxe
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /aks/
- Rhymes: -aks
Noun
ax (plural axes)
- An axe (tool)
- 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)
- (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.
Northern Kurdish
Etymology
Akin to Persian خاک (xâk, “earth, soil, dust”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs- (“to be dry”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɑːx/
Noun
ax f (Arabic spelling ئاخ)
- dirt, ground, soil, earth
- Synonyms: erd, xwelî
- dust
- Synonym: xubar
- matter
Declension
Definite feminine gender | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Case | Singular | Plural | ||
Nominative | ax | ax | ||
Construct | axa | axên | ||
Oblique | axê | axan | ||
Demonstrative oblique | wê axê | wan axan | ||
Vocative | axê | axino | ||
Indefinite feminine gender | ||||
Case | Singular | Plural | ||
Nominative | axek | axin | ||
Construct | axeke | axine | ||
Oblique | axekê | axinan |
Derived terms
- binax
References
- Chyet, Michael L. (2003), “ax”, in Kurdish–English Dictionary, with selected etymologies by Martin Schwartz, New Haven and London: Yale University Press
Old French
Contraction
ax
- 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)
- ear (of corn)
Declension
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
- Westrobothnian: 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
From French axe, from Latin axis.
Noun
ax n (plural axe)
- axle
- axis
Declension
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 |
Swedish
Etymology
From Old Norse ax.
Noun
ax n
- 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 |