ax

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

enPR: ăks, IPA^(key): /æks/
- Audio (UK)
  (file)
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, 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 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 nonstandard. This is similar to the case of words like ain't which were also acceptable in the past.

Eastern Huasteca NahuatlEdit

AdverbEdit

ax

not

IcelandicEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old Norse ax, from Proto-Germanic *ahsą.

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /axs/
IPA^(key): /aks/

NounEdit

ax n (genitive singular ax, nominative plural öx)

ear (of corn)

DeclensionEdit

declension of ax

	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
n-s	singular		plural
nominative	ax	axið	öx	öxin
accusative	ax	axið	öx	öxin
dative	axi	axinu	öxum	öxunum
genitive	ax	axins	axa	axanna

Jamaican CreoleEdit

VerbEdit

ax

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. […]