flax

See also: Flax

English

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^[1]) stem is different.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /flæks/
(dialectal, obsolete) IPA^(key): /flɛks/^[2]
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -æks

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.

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

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

References

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

^ 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"
^ 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.

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)

Flax (Linum usitatissimum) or its fibers
Linen; fabric made out of flax
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

(colloquial) (unexpected) good luck

Declension

Declension of *flax*
		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	flax	flax
singular	definite	flaxet	flaxets
plural	indefinite	—	—
plural	definite	—	—

References

[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.

[1]

[2]