ax
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
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.’
- 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts I:
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
IcelandicEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Norse ax, from Proto-Germanic *ahsą.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
ax n (genitive singular ax, nominative plural öx)
- ear (of corn)
DeclensionEdit
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. […]
Middle EnglishEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Old English æx, æcs, from Proto-West Germanic *akusi, from Proto-Germanic *akwisī.
Alternative formsEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
ax (plural axes)
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “ax(e, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Etymology 2Edit
From Old English eax, from Proto-Germanic *ahsō.
Alternative formsEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
ax (plural axes)
Derived termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “ax(e, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Old FrenchEdit
ContractionEdit
ax
Old NorseEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Proto-Germanic *ahsą.
NounEdit
- ear (of corn)
DeclensionEdit
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit
ax in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press
SwedishEdit
NounEdit
ax n
- an ear (fruiting body of a grain plant)
DeclensionEdit
Declension of ax | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | ax | axet | ax | axen |
Genitive | ax | axets | ax | axens |