ax

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

enPR: ăks, IPA^(key): /æks/
Rhymes: -æks

Etymology 1Edit

NounEdit

ax (plural axes)

(American spelling) Alternative form of axe

VerbEdit

ax (third-person singular simple present axes, present participle axing, simple past and past participle axed)

(American spelling) Alternative form of axe

Etymology 2Edit

From Old English acsian/axian, showing metathesis from ascian. Ax/aks was the regular literary form until about 1600.

VerbEdit

ax (third-person singular simple present axes, present participle axing, simple past and past participle axed)

(now dialectal or nonstandard, especially African-American Vernacular) 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?

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 notesEdit

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 substandard. This is similar to the case of words like ain't which were also acceptable in the past.