wax

CEFRB1

/waks/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A soft substance used to make candles and polish things.

  2. 02

    verb

    To remove hair or add a smooth protective covering.

Examples

  • This car wax gives permanent protection against heavy rain.

  • What do you use to pick wax out of your ears?

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /wæks/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings
  1. Any oily, water-resistant, solid or semisolid substance; normally long-chain hydrocarbons, alcohols or esters.

  2. Any preparation containing wax, used as a polish.

  3. The phonograph record format for music.

More examples

In context
  • He was charged with two felonies, for possession of Xanax and wax.

  • What role does the wax in your earhole fulfill?

  • Near-synonyms: become, get, go, turn, come, fall, grow

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

After the new moon, the visible portion of the moon will blank for about two weeks.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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”).