wax

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• wăks
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• UK: /waks/
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• Australia, US: /wæks/
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• US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• New-Zealand: /wɛks/
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• rhymes with -æks
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• homophone: whacks
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• homophone: wacks (wine–whine merger)
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• nonstandard, obsolete: wĕks
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• nonstandard, obsolete: /wɛks/
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• CMU ARPABET: W AE1 K S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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From Middle English wax, from Old English weax, from Proto-Germanic *wahsą, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *woḱ-so-. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Woaks (“wax”), West Frisian waaks (“wax”), Dutch was (“wax”), German Wachs (“wax”), German Low German Wass (“wax”), Luxembourgish Wuess (“wax”), Vilamovian wāhs (“wax”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk voks (“wax”), Faroese vaks (“wax”), Icelandic, Swedish vax (“wax”); and with Lithuanian vaškas (“wax”), Proto-Slavic *voskъ (“wax”).

* As a German and Jewish surname, variant of Wachs. * As an English surname, from the noun wax, compare Waxman.

From Middle English waxen, from Old English weaxan (“to wax, grow, be fruitful, increase, become powerful, flourish”), from Proto-West Germanic *wahsan, from Proto-Germanic *wahsijaną (“to grow”), from Proto-Indo-European *h2weks- (“to grow, increase”). Cognate with Scots wax (“to grow”), West Frisian waakse (“to greaten”), Low German wassen, Dutch wassen (“to greaten”), German wachsen (“to greaten”), Danish and Norwegian vokse (“to greaten”), Swedish växa (“to greaten”), Icelandic vaxa (“to greaten”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌷𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wahsjan, “to grow”); and with Ancient Greek ἀέξειν (aéxein), Latin auxilium. It is in its turn cognate with augeo. See eke.

Uncertain; probably from phrases like to wax angry, wax wode, and similar (see Etymology 2, above).

From Middle English waxen, from the noun (see above).

275 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Breton: koar — made of wax
• Bulgarian: восъчен (vosǎčen) — made of wax
• Catalan: cerós — made of wax
• Dutch: wassen — made of wax
• Esperanto: vaksa — made of wax
• Finnish: vaha- — made of wax
• Finnish: vahasta tehty — made of wax
• French: de cire — made of wax
• German: wächsern — made of wax
• German: Wachs- — made of wax
• Greek: κέρινος (kérinos) — made of wax
• Italian: di cera — made of wax
• Polish: woskowy — made of wax
• Portuguese: céreo — made of wax
• Portuguese: ceroso — made of wax
• Romanian: de ceară — made of wax
• Russian: восково́й (voskovój) — made of wax
• Slovene: voščen — made of wax
• Spanish: de cera — made of wax
• Ukrainian: во́сковий (vóskovyj) — made of wax
• Albanian: dyllë — oily, water-resistant substance
• Amharic: ሰም (säm) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Arabic: شَمْع (šamʕ) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Arabic: شَمَع (šamaʕ) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Arabic: شمع (šamaʕ) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܫܲܥܘܼܬ݂ܵܐ (šaˁūṯā) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Armenian: մոմ (mom) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Aromanian: tsearã — oily, water-resistant substance
• Asturian: cera — oily, water-resistant substance
• Azerbaijani: mum — oily, water-resistant substance
• Bashkir: балауыҙ (balawıź) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Basque: ezko — oily, water-resistant substance
• Basque: argizari — oily, water-resistant substance
• Belarusian: воск (vosk) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Bengali: মোম (mōm) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Breton: koar — oily, water-resistant substance
• Bulgarian: во́сък (vósǎk) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Burmese: ဖယောင်း (hpa.yaung:) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Catalan: cera — oily, water-resistant substance
• Cherokee: ᎠᏗᎠ (adia) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Chinese Mandarin: 蠟 /蜡 (là) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Chinese Mandarin: 蜜蠟 /蜜蜡 (mìlà) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Czech: vosk — oily, water-resistant substance
• Dalmatian: caira — oily, water-resistant substance
• Danish: voks — oily, water-resistant substance
• Dutch: was — oily, water-resistant substance
• Erzya: шта (šta) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Esperanto: vakso — oily, water-resistant substance
• Estonian: vaha — oily, water-resistant substance
• Faroese: voks — oily, water-resistant substance
• Faroese: vaks — oily, water-resistant substance
• Fataluku: pacu — oily, water-resistant substance
• Finnish: vaha — oily, water-resistant substance
• French: cire — oily, water-resistant substance
• French: fart — oily, water-resistant substance
• Friulian: cere — oily, water-resistant substance
• Galician: cera — oily, water-resistant substance
• Galician: borra — oily, water-resistant substance
• Galician: buio — oily, water-resistant substance
• Georgian: სანთელი (santeli) — oily, water-resistant substance
• German: Wachs — oily, water-resistant substance
• Old High German: wahs — oily, water-resistant substance
• Greek: κερί (kerí) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Greek: κηρός (kirós) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Hawaiian: kūkae — oily, water-resistant substance
• Hawaiian: pīlali — oily, water-resistant substance
• Hebrew: שַׁעֲוָה — oily, water-resistant substance
• Hebrew: שעווה (sha'avá) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Hindi: मोम (mom) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Hungarian: viasz — oily, water-resistant substance
• Icelandic: vax — oily, water-resistant substance
• Indonesian: lilin — oily, water-resistant substance
• Indonesian: malam — oily, water-resistant substance
• Irish: céir — oily, water-resistant substance
• Italian: cera — oily, water-resistant substance
• Japanese: 蝋 (rō) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Japanese: ワックス (wakkusu) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Japanese: 蜜蝋 (mitsurō) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Kapampangan: sera — oily, water-resistant substance
• Kazakh: балауыз (balauyz) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Khmer: ក្រមួន (krɑmuən) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Korean: 밀랍 (millap) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Korean: 왁스 (wakseu) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Kyrgyz: мом (mom) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Lao: ຂີ້ເຜີ້ງ (khī phœ̄ng) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Latin: cēra — oily, water-resistant substance
• Latvian: vasks — oily, water-resistant substance
• Lithuanian: vaškas — oily, water-resistant substance
• Luxembourgish: Wuess — oily, water-resistant substance
• Macedonian: восок (vosok) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Malay: lilin — oily, water-resistant substance
• Maltese: xama’ — oily, water-resistant substance
• Manchu: ᠠᠶᠠᠨ (ayan) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Marathi: मेण (meṇ) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Middle English: wax — oily, water-resistant substance
• Mongolian: лав (lav) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Norman: chithe — oily, water-resistant substance
• Norwegian Bokmål: voks — oily, water-resistant substance
• Norwegian Nynorsk: voks — oily, water-resistant substance
• Occitan: cera — oily, water-resistant substance
• Church Slavic: воскъ (voskŭ) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Church Slavic: ⰲⱁⱄⰽⱏ (voskŭ) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Old East Slavic: воскъ (voskŭ) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Old English: weax — oily, water-resistant substance
• Pannonian Rusyn: воск (vosk) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Persian: موم (mum) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Piedmontese: sira — oily, water-resistant substance
• Plautdietsch: Wauss — oily, water-resistant substance
• Polish: wosk — oily, water-resistant substance
• Portuguese: cera — oily, water-resistant substance
• Punjabi: ਮੋਮ (mom) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Romanian: ceară — oily, water-resistant substance
• Romansh: tschaira — oily, water-resistant substance
• Romansh: tschera — oily, water-resistant substance
• Romansh: tscheira — oily, water-resistant substance
• Russian: воск (vosk) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Sardinian: chera — oily, water-resistant substance
• Sardinian: cera — oily, water-resistant substance
• Serbo-Croatian: во̏сак — oily, water-resistant substance
• Serbo-Croatian: vȍsak — oily, water-resistant substance
• Shuar: míkia — oily, water-resistant substance
• Sicilian: cira — oily, water-resistant substance
• Slovak: vosk — oily, water-resistant substance
• Slovene: vosek — oily, water-resistant substance
• Lower Sorbian: wósk — oily, water-resistant substance
• Upper Sorbian: wosk — oily, water-resistant substance
• Spanish: cera — oily, water-resistant substance
• Spanish: esperma — oily, water-resistant substance
• Swahili: nta — oily, water-resistant substance
• Swedish: vax — oily, water-resistant substance
• Tajik: мум (mum) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Tatar: балавыз (balawız) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Telugu: మైనము (mainamu) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Telugu: మైనం (mainaṁ) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Tetum: badut — oily, water-resistant substance
• Thai: ขี้ผึ้ง (kîi-pʉ̂ng) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Turkish: balmumu — oily, water-resistant substance
• Turkish: bal mumu — oily, water-resistant substance
• Turkish: mum — oily, water-resistant substance
• Ottoman Turkish: موم (mum) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Ottoman Turkish: شمع (şemʿ) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Turkmen: mum — oily, water-resistant substance
• Ukrainian: віск (visk) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Urdu: موم (mom) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Uyghur: موم (mom) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Uzbek: mum — oily, water-resistant substance
• Venetan: sera — oily, water-resistant substance
• Venetan: siera — oily, water-resistant substance
• Venetan: çera — oily, water-resistant substance
• Venetan: zhera — oily, water-resistant substance
• Vietnamese: sáp — oily, water-resistant substance
• Volapük: väk — oily, water-resistant substance
• Welsh: cwyr — oily, water-resistant substance
• Yiddish: וואַקס (vaks) — oily, water-resistant substance
• Catalan: cera — preparation containing wax, used as a polish
• Danish: polervoks — preparation containing wax, used as a polish
• Dutch: was — preparation containing wax, used as a polish
• Estonian: vaha — preparation containing wax, used as a polish
• Estonian: poonimisvaha — preparation containing wax, used as a polish
• Finnish: vaha — preparation containing wax, used as a polish
• French: cire — preparation containing wax, used as a polish
• German: Bohnerwachs — preparation containing wax, used as a polish
• Greek: κερί (kerí) — preparation containing wax, used as a polish
• Japanese: ワックス (wakkusu) — preparation containing wax, used as a polish
• Korean: 왁스 (wakseu) — preparation containing wax, used as a polish
• Persian: واکس (vâks) — preparation containing wax, used as a polish
• Portuguese: cera — preparation containing wax, used as a polish
• Romanian: ceară — preparation containing wax, used as a polish
• Spanish: cera — preparation containing wax, used as a polish
• Finnish: savikiekko — phonograph record
• Georgian: ფირფიტაზე ჩანაწერი (pirpiṭaze čanac̣eri) — phonograph record
• Bulgarian: нарастване (narastvane) — process of growing
• Dutch: wassen — process of growing
• Dutch: aanwassen — process of growing
• Finnish: kasvu — process of growing
• Japanese: 成長 (seichō) — process of growing
• Catalan: encerar — to coat with wax
• French: cirer — to coat with wax
• German: wachsen — to coat with wax
• Spanish: encerar — to coat with wax
• Breton: koarañ — apply wax to
• Catalan: encerar — apply wax to
• Czech: voskovat — apply wax to
• Danish: vokse — apply wax to
• Dutch: wassen — apply wax to
• Dutch: was aanbrengen — apply wax to
• Dutch: met was insmeren — apply wax to
• Finnish: vahata — apply wax to
• French: cirer — apply wax to
• German: wichsen — apply wax to
• German: bohnern wachsen — apply wax to
• Greek: κηρώνω (kiróno) — apply wax to
• Hunsrik: wachse — apply wax to
• Ingrian: vahata — apply wax to
• Italian: cerare — apply wax to
• Italian: incerare — apply wax to
• Manchu: ᠠᠶᠠᠯᠠᠮᠪᡳ (ayalambi) — apply wax to
• Norman: chither — apply wax to
• Polish: woskować — apply wax to
• Portuguese: encerar — apply wax to
• Romanian: cera — apply wax to
• Russian: вощи́ть (voščítʹ) — apply wax to
• Scottish Gaelic: cèir — apply wax to
• Scottish Gaelic: cèirich — apply wax to
• Sicilian: ncirari — apply wax to
• Slovene: voskati — apply wax to
• Spanish: encerar — apply wax to
• Spanish: bolear — apply wax to
• Chinese Mandarin: 蜜蠟脫毛 /蜜蜡脱毛 (mìlà tuōmáo) — remove hair from
• Chinese Mandarin: 熱蠟脫毛 /热蜡脱毛 (rèlà tuōmáo) — remove hair from
• Dutch: waxen — remove hair from
• Finnish: poistaa vahalla — remove hair from
• Greek: κηρώνω (kiróno) — remove hair from
• Greek: αποτριχώνω (apotrichóno) — remove hair from
• Hungarian: gyantáz — remove hair from
• Portuguese: depilar — remove hair from
• Spanish: depilar — remove hair from
• Bulgarian: нарастване (narastvane) — phase of a planet
• French: croître — phase of a planet
• German: zunehmen — phase of a planet
• Italian: crescere — phase of a planet
• Portuguese: crescer — phase of a planet
• Spanish: crecer — phase of a planet
• Catalan: tornar-se — to assume specified characteristic
• Dutch: worden — to assume specified characteristic
• Finnish: tulla — to assume specified characteristic
• Finnish: muuttua — to assume specified characteristic
• French: devenir — to assume specified characteristic
• German: werden — to assume specified characteristic
• Italian: diventare — to assume specified characteristic
• Italian: divenire — to assume specified characteristic
• Portuguese: virar — to assume specified characteristic
• Portuguese: ficar — to assume specified characteristic
• Portuguese: tornar-se — to assume specified characteristic
• Spanish: devenir — to assume specified characteristic
• Bulgarian: увеличавам се (uveličavam se) — literary: grow
• Catalan: créixer — literary: grow
• Danish: vokse — literary: grow
• Dutch: groeien — literary: grow
• Dutch: toenemen — literary: grow
• Dutch: wassen — literary: grow
• Finnish: kasvaa — literary: grow
• French: croître — literary: grow
• German: wachsen — literary: grow
• German: zunehmen — literary: grow
• German: größer werden — literary: grow
• Greek: αυξάνομαι (afxánomai) — literary: grow
• Greek: γεμίζω (gemízo) — literary: grow
• Italian: crescere — literary: grow
• Japanese: 成長する (seichō suru) — literary: grow
• Japanese: なる (naru) — literary: grow
• Latin: cresco — literary: grow
• Norwegian: vokse — literary: grow
• Persian: رستن (rostan) — literary: grow
• Persian: وخشیدن (vaxšidan) — literary: grow
• Portuguese: crescer — literary: grow
• Spanish: crecer — literary: grow
• Swedish: växa — literary: grow
• Swedish: tillta — literary: grow
• Bulgarian: нараствам (narastvam) — of the moon: appear larger each night
• Catalan: créixer — of the moon: appear larger each night
• Chinese Mandarin: 盈 (yíng) — of the moon: appear larger each night
• Chinese Mandarin: 漸盈 /渐盈 (jiànyíng) — of the moon: appear larger each night
• Dutch: wassen — of the moon: appear larger each night
• Finnish: kasvaa — of the moon: appear larger each night
• French: croître — of the moon: appear larger each night
• German: zunehmen — of the moon: appear larger each night
• Greek: γεμίζει (gemízei) — of the moon: appear larger each night
• Italian: crescere — of the moon: appear larger each night
• Japanese: 満ちる (michiru) — of the moon: appear larger each night
• Māori: hua — of the moon: appear larger each night
• Occitan: créisser — of the moon: appear larger each night
• Portuguese: crescer — of the moon: appear larger each night
• Spanish: crecer — of the moon: appear larger each night
• Swedish: tilltagande — of the moon: appear larger each night