ax
English
editPronunciation
editEtymology 1
editNoun
editax (plural axes)
- (American spelling) Alternative form of axe
Derived terms
editVerb
editax (third-person singular simple present axes, present participle axing, simple past and past participle axed)
- (American spelling) Alternative form of axe
Etymology 2
editFrom Middle English axen, aksen, axien, from Old English ācsian and āxian, showing metathesis from āscian. Ax/aks was common in literary works until about 1600.
Verb
editax (third-person singular simple present axes, present participle axing, simple past and past participle axed)
- (now nonstandard or dialectical, especially African-American Vernacular, MLE and Bermuda) Alternative form of ask
- 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts:
- 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, volume 1, page 106:
- 1887, Gilbert and Sullivan, Ruddigore, act 1:
- Richard Dauntless: "But, axin' your pardon, miss, might I be permitted to salute the flag I'm a-goin' to sail under?"
- 1979, Verna Mae Slone, What My Heart Wants to Tell, page 18:
- ‘I axed him if he knowed the way and he said he had not fergitten the lay of the land.’
- 2006 Sept. 17, David Mills, "Soft Eyes", The Wire, 00:19:01:
- Wise: Your boy left here a while ago
Johnson: I ain' lookin' for him. He at his granmother's. I wanted to ax you somethin'.
- Wise: Your boy left here a while ago
- 2013 September 5, James Burton, The Bermuda Sun[1], archived from the original on 12 December 2022:
- He's cool. Does triathlons dahn de Sahn. Don't drink. Ax me if I want a lift to de beach — he hurd it's a dahnce goin on dahn thurr.
Usage notes
edit- This and related forms of ask have been used since Old English and were long employed in literature and prestige dialects. Chaucer used ask, ax, and axe interchangeably. They remain in use in some rural areas of Britain and Appalachia but are now regarded as nonstandard and are primarily associated with AAVE dialects in the US and MLE or West Country dialects in the UK, as well as being in some Irish English dialects, and sometimes in New Zealand, especially among Maori English speakers.
References
edit- McWhorter, John. "The 'Ax' versus 'Ask' Question", LA Times, 19 Jan. 2014.
Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl
editAdverb
editax
Icelandic
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editNoun
editax n (genitive singular ax, nominative plural öx)
- ear (of corn)
Declension
editJamaican Creole
editVerb
editax
- Alternative spelling of aks.
- 2006, Amina Blackwood-Meeks, “Aiming at your dreams”, in The Jamaica Gleaner[2] (in Jamaican Creole):
- “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 English
editEtymology 1
editFrom Old English æx, æcs, from Proto-West Germanic *akusi.
Alternative forms
editPronunciation
editNoun
editax (plural axes)
Descendants
editReferences
edit- “ax(e, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-24.
Etymology 2
editFrom Old English eax, from Proto-Germanic *ahsu.
Alternative forms
editPronunciation
editNoun
editax (plural axes)
Derived terms
editReferences
edit- “ax(e, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-24.
Northern Kurdish
editEtymology
editAkin to Persian خاک (xâk, “earth, soil, dust”). From Proto-Iranian *HáHhah, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs- (“to be dry”).
Pronunciation
editNoun
editax f (Arabic spelling ئاخ)
Declension
editDerived terms
editReferences
edit- Chyet, Michael L. (2003) “ax”, in Kurdish–English Dictionary[3], with selected etymologies by Martin Schwartz, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, page 14
Old French
editContraction
editax
Old Norse
editEtymology
editFrom Proto-Germanic *ahsą, from *ahaz (“ear (of grain)”).
Noun
edit- ear (of corn)
Declension
editDescendants
editReferences
edit“ax”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Romanian
editEtymology
editBorrowed from French axe, from Latin axis.
Noun
editax n (plural axe)
Declension
editSwedish
editEtymology
editNoun
editax n
- an ear (fruiting body of a grain plant)
Declension
editnominative | genitive | ||
---|---|---|---|
singular | indefinite | ax | ax |
definite | axet | axets | |
plural | indefinite | ax | ax |
definite | axen | axens |
Verb
editax (present ax, preterite ax, supine ax, imperative ax)
References
edit- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/æks
- Rhymes:English/æks/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- American English forms
- English verbs
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English nonstandard terms
- African-American Vernacular English
- Multicultural London English
- Bermudian English
- English terms with quotations
- English two-letter words
- Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl lemmas
- Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl adverbs
- Icelandic terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Icelandic terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Icelandic terms inherited from Old Norse
- Icelandic terms derived from Old Norse
- Icelandic 1-syllable words
- Icelandic terms with IPA pronunciation
- Icelandic lemmas
- Icelandic nouns
- Icelandic neuter nouns
- Jamaican Creole lemmas
- Jamaican Creole verbs
- Jamaican Creole terms with quotations
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Middle English/aks
- Rhymes:Middle English/aks/1 syllable
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Middle English terms with rare senses
- enm:Tools
- enm:Vehicles
- enm:Weapons
- Northern Kurdish terms inherited from Proto-Iranian
- Northern Kurdish terms derived from Proto-Iranian
- Northern Kurdish terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Northern Kurdish 1-syllable words
- Northern Kurdish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Northern Kurdish lemmas
- Northern Kurdish nouns
- Northern Kurdish feminine nouns
- Old French non-lemma forms
- Old French contractions
- Old Norse terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Old Norse terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂eḱ-
- Old Norse terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Old Norse terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Old Norse lemmas
- Old Norse nouns
- Old Norse neuter nouns
- Old Norse neuter a-stem nouns
- Romanian terms borrowed from French
- Romanian terms derived from French
- Romanian terms derived from Latin
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian nouns
- Romanian countable nouns
- Romanian neuter nouns
- Swedish terms inherited from Old Norse
- Swedish terms derived from Old Norse
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish neuter nouns
- Swedish verbs
- Swedish slang