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Complete Definition of "ax"

see|.ax
English

Etymology 1
See axe#Etymology 1|axe.

Pronunciation
AHD|�ks, IPA|/æks/, SAMPA|/{ks/
:Rhymes:English:-æks|Rhymes: -æks

Noun
en-noun|es

  1. alternative spelling of|axe#Etymology 1|axe

Verb
en-verb|ax|es

  1. alternative spelling of|axe#Etymology 1|axe

Etymology 2
See axe#Etymology 2|axe.

Noun
en-noun|es

  1. alternative spelling of|axe#Etymology 2|axe

Verb
en-verb|ax|es

  1. alternative spelling of|axe#Etymology 2|axe

Etymology 3

Verb
en-verb|ax|es

  1. form of|variant|ask

Usage notes
rfc|copyvio? or just unnecessary?
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000 states that "ax, a common nonstandard variant of ask, is often identified as an especially salient feature of African American Vernacular English. While it is true that the form is frequent in the speech of African Americans, it used to be common in the speech of white Americans as well, especially in New England. This should not be surprising since ax is a very old word in English, having been used in England for over 1,000 years. In Old English we find both scian and csian, and in Middle English both asken and axen. Moreover, the forms with "cs" or "x" had no stigma associated with them. Chaucer used asken and axen interchangeably, as in the lines 'I wol aske, if it hir will be/To be my wyf' and 'Men axed hym, what sholde bifalle,' both from The Canterbury Tales. The forms in "x" arose from the forms in "sk" by a linguistic process called metathesis, in which two sounds are reversed. The "x" thus represents /ks/, the flipped version of /sk/. Metathesis is a common linguistic process around the world and does not arise from a defect in speaking. Nevertheless, "ax" has become stigmatized as substandard - a fate that has befallen other words, like "ain't", that were once perfectly acceptable in literate circles.

Category:English words with multiple etymologies
Category:English two-letter words

Icelandic

Etymology
Old Norse

Noun
ax n

  1. ear (of corn)

Category:Icelandic nouns

bg:ax
fr:ax
io:ax
is:ax
ku:ax
ru:ax
fi:ax
sv:ax
vi:ax
tr:ax
zh:ax

Revision and Credits for"ax"
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