''flax'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''flax'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260125204041-00-⌔

flax - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Noun

flax (countable and uncountable, plural flaxes)

• 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.
• The fibers of Linum usitatissimum, grown to make linen and related textiles.
• 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.

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 too¹) stem is different.

Pronunciation

• enPR: flăks:
  • IPA: /flaks/(UK)
    • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • IPA: /flæks/(US, AU)
  • IPA: /flɛks/(New Zealand)
  • Rhymes: -æks
  • Homophone: flacks
• (obsolete, nonstandard) enPR: flĕks, IPA: /flɛks/²
  • Homophones: flex, flecks

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

1. Etymology in the Deutsches Wörterbuch of Jakob und Wilhelm Grimm: “however, Old Norse hör… The Gothic word has not been transmitted, but one might guess harvs” ↩

2. Bingham, Caleb (1808), “Improprieties in Pronunciation, common among the people of New-England”, in *The Child’s Companion; Being a Conciſe Spelling-book […] * ‎${}^{[1]}$, 12th edition, Boston: Manning & Loring, →OCLC, page 75. ↩

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