flax

See also: Flax

English

A field of flax (Linum usitatissimum)

Etymology

From Middle English flax, from Old English fleax, from Proto-Germanic *flahsą, from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- (“to plait”). Cognate with Old Frisian flax, Dutch vlas, Old High German flahs (German Flachs); the Northern Germanic (and most likely the Gothic too) stem is different.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /flæks/
• (dialectal, obsolete) IPA^(key): /flɛks/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æks

Noun

flax (countable and uncountable, plural flaxes)

1. A plant of the genus Linum, especially Linum usitatissimum, which has a single, slender stalk, about a foot and a half high, with blue flowers. Also known as linseed, especially when referring to the seeds.
2. The fibers of Linum usitatissimum, grown to make linen and related textiles.
3. A flax bush, a plant of the genus Phormium, native to New Zealand, with strap-like leaves up to 3 metres long that grow in clumps.

Usage notes

The plural flaxes is used to indicate multiple species or varieties of flax; otherwise, flax is uncountable.

Derived terms

• blue flax
• earthflax
• false flax
• flax bow
• flaxbush
• flaxcomb
• flax-dresser
• flaxen
• flax-leaved daphne
• flaxlike
• flax milk
• flaxseed
• flax seed
• flax-stick
• flaxweed
• flaxwort
• flaxy
• holy flax
• Lewis flax
• mountain flax
• New Zealand flax (Phormium spp.)
• toadflax
• yellow flax
  For numerous others see Linum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Translations

plant

• Akkadian: 𒃰 m (kitûm)
• Albanian: li (sq) m
• Arabic: كَتَّان m (kattān)

  Egyptian Arabic: كتان m (kittān)

  Moroccan Arabic: كتان (kattān)

• Aramaic:

  Christian Palestinian Aramaic: ܟܬܢܐ m (/⁠kittānā⁠/), ܟܝܬܢܐ m (/⁠kittānā⁠/)

  Classical Syriac: ܟܬܢܐ m (kettānā), ܩܛܘ m (qeṭaw)

  Jewish Aramaic: כִּיתָּנָא m (kittānā)

• Armenian: վուշ (hy) (vuš)

  Old Armenian: վուշ (vuš), կտաւ (ktaw)

• Aromanian: ljin
• Azerbaijani: adi kətan
• Bashkir: please add this translation if you can
• Basque: liho
• Belarusian: лён m (ljon)
• Bengali: তিসি (bn) (tiśi)
• Bulgarian: лен (bg) m (len)
• Catalan: lli (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 亞麻 / 亚麻 (zh) (yàmá)

• Czech: len (cs) m
• Danish: hør (da) c
• Dutch: vlas (nl) n
• Erzya: сюс (śus)
• Esperanto: lino (eo)
• Estonian: lina
• Faroese: lín n, hørur m
• Finnish: pellava (fi)
• French: lin (fr) m
• Friulian: lin m
• Galician: liño (gl) m
• Georgian: სელი (ka) (seli)
• German: Flachs (de) m, Lein (de) m
• Greek: λινάρι (el) n (linári)

  Ancient: κάρπασος f (kárpasos), λίνον n (línon)

• Gujarati: અળસી f (aḷsī)
• Hebrew: פִּשְׁתָּן (he) m (pištā́n), פִּשְׁתָּה (he) f (pištā́)
• Hungarian: len (hu)
• Icelandic: lín (is) n
• Italian: lino (it) m
• Japanese: 亜麻 (ja) (あま, ama)
• Kannada: ಅಗಸೆನಾರು (agasenāru)
• Kazakh: please add this translation if you can
• Khmer: ការច្នៃ (kaacnay)
• Korean: 아마(亞麻) (ko) (ama)
• Kyrgyz: please add this translation if you can
• Latgalian: lyns m
• Latin: līnum n
• Latvian: lins m
• Lithuanian: linas (lt) m
• Low German: Flass (nds) m
• Macedonian: лен (mk) m (len)
• Malay: flaks
• Middle English: flax
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: lîn m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lin n, hør (no) m (obsolete)

  Nynorsk: lin n

• Occitan: lin (oc) m
• Old English: fleax
• Ottoman Turkish: كتان (kettan)
• Persian: کتان (fa) (katân), وش (fa) (vaš), زغر (zeğer) (Afghanistan)
• Polish: len (pl) m
• Portuguese: linho (pt) m
• Punic: 𐤐𐤔𐤕 m (pišt)
• Romanian: in (ro) m
• Russian: лён (ru) m (ljon)
• Sanskrit: उमा (sa) m (umā)
• Sardinian: linu m
• Scots: lint
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ла̏н m

  Roman: lȁn (sh) m

• Slovak: ľan m
• Slovene: lan (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: lan m

• Southern Altai: кӱдели (küdeli), кеден (keden)
• Spanish: lino (es) m
• Sumerian: 𒃰 (gada)
• Swabian: Lãẽ
• Swedish: lin (sv) n
• Tabasaran: гиниб (ginib)
• Tamil: ஆளி (ta) (āḷi)
• Tatar: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: keten (tr)
• Turkmen: please add this translation if you can
• Ugaritic: 𐎖𐎉 m (qṭ)
• Ukrainian: льон (uk) m (lʹon)
• Uzbek: zigʻir (uz)
• Vietnamese: lanh (vi)
• Volapük: linum (vo)
• Welsh: llin

the fibers

• Arabic: كَتّان m (kattān)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: лен (bg) m (len)
• Catalan: lli (ca) m
• Dutch: vlas (nl) n
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: pellava (fi)
• French: lin (fr) m
• Galician: liño (gl) m, freba f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Flachs (de) m, Flachsfaser f, Leinen (de) n
• Greek: λινάρι (el) n (linári)

  Ancient: λίνον n (línon)

• Gujarati: અળસી f (aḷsī)
• Italian: lino (it) m
• Kannada: ಅಗಸೆನಾರು (agasenāru)
• Latvian: lini pl
• Macedonian: лен (mk) m (len)
• Norman: lîn m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lin n, hør (no) m (obsolete)

• Persian: کتان (fa) (katân)
• Polish: len (pl) m
• Portuguese: filaça (pt) f
• Romanian: in (ro) n
• Russian: лён (ru) m (ljon)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: lan m

• Spanish: filasa f
• Swedish: lin (sv) n
• Tagalog: sulid
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: льон (uk) m (lʹon)
• Vietnamese: lanh (vi)

plant native to New Zealand — see phormium

See also

• Flax Bourton
• linen
• tow

References

• “flax”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• flax on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Linum on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Anagrams

• falx

Middle English

Alternative forms

• fflex, flaxe, flex, flexe, vlex

Etymology

Inherited from Old English fleax, from Proto-West Germanic *flahs, from Proto-Germanic *flahsą, from Proto-Indo-European *plek-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /flaks/, /flɛks/

Noun

flax (uncountable)

1. Flax (Linum usitatissimum) or its fibers
2. Linen; fabric made out of flax
3. Flax or straw used as a firestarter; tinder

Related terms

• flaxen

Descendants

• English: flax

References

• “flex, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Swedish

Noun

flax c

1. (colloquial) (unexpected) good luck

Declension

Declension of flax

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	flax	flax
	definite	flaxet	flaxets
plural	indefinite	—	—
	definite	—	—

See also

• flaxa

References

• flax in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• flax in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• flax in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)