kex
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English kex. Origin unknown; but compare Welsh cecys (“hollow stalks”) and Welsh cegid (“hemlock”), apparently from the same source as Latin cicūta (“hemlock”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
kex (plural kexes)
- (obsolete or dialectal) The dried stem of certain large herbaceous plants.
- (obsolete, botany) A plant having such a stem; a weed, a kecksy.
- (rare) A dry husk or covering.
- 1972, Vladimir Nabokov, Transparent Things, McGraw-Hill, published 1972, pages 100–101:
- On the bedside table a new package of cigarettes and a traveling clock had for neighbor a nicely wrapped box containing the green figurine of a girl skier which shone through the double kix.
Icelandic edit
Etymology edit
From Danish kiks (“cracker”) (older keks), in turn borrowed from English cakes, plural of cake, Middle English cake, kake, which was itself borrowed from the ancestor of Icelandic, Old Norse: kex is therefore a doublet of kaka. Further back from Proto-Germanic *kakǭ.[1]
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
kex n (genitive singular kex, nominative plural kex)
Declension edit
Derived terms edit
References edit
- ^ Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon — Íslensk orðsifjabók, 1st edition, 2nd printing (1989). Reykjavík, Orðabók Háskólans, page 458. (Available on Málið.is under the “Eldra mál” tab.)
Middle English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Unknown. Possibly from a Celtic and/or substrate language. (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
kex (plural kexis)
- Any dried stem of a plant with a hollow interior.
- (rare) A plant having a hollow stem; a member of the family Umbelliferae.
Descendants edit
References edit
- “kex(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-10-12.
Swedish edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From English cakes, plural of cake, from Middle English cake, from Old Norse kaka (whence also kaka), from Proto-Germanic *kakǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *gog-.
The reason why the word is lent in the plural is because it is easier to apply the Swedish declension patterns with cakes than with cake. Compare the similar loans räls and muffins. Compare Danish kiks (similarly borrowed from English).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
kex n
- cracker, (UK) biscuit
- (slang) someone physically attractive
- Tjena kexet, står du här och smular?
- Hello biscuit, are you standing here crumbling?
Declension edit
| Declension of kex | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
| Nominative | kex | kexet | kex | kexen |
| Genitive | kex | kexets | kex | kexens |
Descendants edit
- → Finnish: keksi
See also edit
- rån (“wafer”)