axis English · revision 10515

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1398|origins=la axis|origins=ine-pro *h₂eḱs-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈæksɪs/ ''(UK)''; /ˈæksɪs/, /ˈæksəs/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|axis|t=axle, pivot; axis of the earth or sky]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) from PIE *aks-, axis,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) source also of Old English eax, axle, German [[m|de|Achse]], Greek [[m|grc|ἄξων|tr=áxōn|t=axle]] and Sanskrit [[m|sa|अक्ष|tr=ákṣa|t=axle]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A straight line, the axis of a body: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus;^(Barnhart 1988) the imaginary line about which the earth rotates, the 1540s (1549).^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The geometrical line about which a figure revolves is from 1571,^(OED 1989) and the general sense, a straight line about which parts are arranged, from the 1660s.^(Etymonline) The axle of a wheel is from before 1619,^(OED 1989) and the second cervical vertebra from 1694.^(OED 1989) The figurative sense, a central prop of a system, is from before 1616.^(OED 1989) The ''Axis'', the alliance of Germany and Italy and later Japan in the Second World War, is from 1936, from the idea of a pivot around which countries revolved.^(OED 1989)^(Cresswell 2021)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1398 – an axis.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1549 – the earth's axis.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1571 – a geometrical axis.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1694 – a vertebra.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1936 – the Axis powers.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A real or imaginary straight line about which a body rotates.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A line about which an object or figure is symmetrical, or a reference line in a graph or coordinate system.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(anatomy)'' The second vertebra of the neck.^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(the Axis)'' The alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan in the Second World War.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[interaxis]]

+ * [[x-axis]]

+ * [[y-axis]]

+ * [[z-axis]]

+ * [[axi-]]

+ * [[axis of symmetry]]

+ * [[imaginary axis]]

+ * [[major axis]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[axial]]

+ * [[axile]]

+ * [[axle]]

+ * [[axon]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The axis deer, or chital, of India is a different word, from a Latin name of an Indian animal mentioned by Pliny.^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}