flax

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English flax, also flex,^[2][3] inherited from Old English fleax, also flæx,^{[4][5][6][7][8]} from Proto-Germanic *flahsą.^{[9][4][3][10]} It is cognate with Old Frisian flax, Old Saxon flas, Middle Dutch vlas, Dutch vlas, Middle Low German vlas, Old High German flahs, Middle High German vlahs and German Flachs.^{[4][5][3][11]} Most dictionaries trace it to a Germanic base meaning "to plait", from Proto-Indo-European *plek- (“to plait”),^{[4][12][6][11][8]} the root of Ancient Greek πλέκειν (plékein, “to plait”), Latin plectō (“to plait, braid”) and German flechten (“to plait”);^[6][7][11] Weekley and Skeat give the link only as possible.^[13][14] Others connect it with *pleik-, the root of flay, from the stripping of the fibre.^[4] Orel compares Albanian plaf (“wool blanket, rug”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cloth made of flax, linen: before 899, in King Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care.^[5][3] The plant itself is first recorded in Ælfric's version of Exodus.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Old English already used the word for the plant, its cloth and the wick of a lamp or candle, a sense that lasted until 1632.^[5][4] The fibre is named from about 1325,^[5][3] and the compound flexland, a field for flax, appears as a surname in 1207.^[3] From before 1400 flax was extended, with a qualifying word, to other plants resembling it.^[5] From 1832 it also named the New Zealand flax, Phormium tenax, whose leaves yield a fibre.^[5][15] From 1860 mountain flax and fossil flax were names of a kind of asbestos.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the fibrous plant of which the finest thread is made".^[16] In American colloquial use the verb flax meant to beat, apparently from the beating of flax (1848), and later to flax around was to bustle about;^[5][7] slang also had flaxed for "beaten" at cards (1877).^[17] In Somerset and Devon dialect flax or vlex was the hair or fur of an animal.^[18]

Timeline

• before 899 – cloth made of flax, linen.^[5][3]
• Old English – the flax plant; also the wick of a lamp (until 1632).^[5]
• 1207 – the compound flexland, in a surname.^[3]
• c. 1325 – the fibre of the plant.^[5][3]
• before 1400 – other plants resembling flax.^[5]
• 1832 – the New Zealand flax.^[5]
• 1848 – verb, in American use, to beat.^[5][7]
• 1873 – adjective, flax-coloured.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A plant of the genus Linum, especially Linum usitatissimum, which has blue flowers and is grown for its fibre and its seeds, linseed.^[15][2][5]
2. The fibre of this plant, spun into thread and woven into linen.^[15][2][5]
3. Any of various similar plants; in New Zealand, a swamp plant whose fibre is used for baskets and weaving.^[15][5]
4. Linen cloth.^[5][4]

Verb

1. (US, colloquial) To beat severely, often with out.^[7][5]
2. (US, colloquial) flax around: to bustle about.^[7][5]

Word family

• flaxy
• flaxen
• flaxseed
• toadflax

Related words

• ply
• plait
• flay

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
10. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
17. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
18. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)