axe
/æks/noun, verb
axe is spelled A-X-E: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 6.2 times per million words in written English, the 9,735th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “ax vs axe” about 6,600 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, axe means “A tool for felling trees or chopping wood etc. consisting of a heavy head flattened to a blade on one side, and a handle attached to it” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of axe is axes.
How many letters and syllables are in axe?
| Letters | 3: A-X-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 6.2 times per million words; the 9,735th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is axe?
Axe appears 6.2 times per million words in written English, the 9,735th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce axe?
- /æks/
Axe has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-axe.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with axe
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of axe
- axes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- ax US
- axing participle, present
- axeing participle, present
- axed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does axe mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A tool for felling trees or chopping wood etc. consisting of a heavy head flattened to a blade on one side, and a handle attached to it.
- 2
An ancient weapon consisting of a head that has one or two blades and a long handle.
- 3
informalA dismissal or rejection.
His girlfriend/boss/schoolmaster gave him the axe.
- 4
A drastic reduction or cutback.
the Beeching Axe
- 5
slangA gigging musician's particular instrument, especially a guitar in rock music or a saxophone in jazz.
- 6
A position, interest, or reason in buying and selling stock, often with ulterior motives.
A financial dealer has an axe in a stock that his buyers don't know about, giving him an advantage in making the most profit.
- 7
archaicThe axle of a wheel.
verb
- 1
To fell or chop with an axe.
- 2
To lay off, terminate or drastically reduce, especially in a rough or ruthless manner; to cancel.
The government announced its plans to axe public spending.
- 3
To furnish with an axle.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Axe in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | hache, cognée , couperet , gratte |
| German | Axt, Beil, Ax , Korb , Streitaxt , abhacken |
| Portuguese | machado |
| Spanish | hacha, facha, machado, segur |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does axe come from?
From Middle English ax, axe, ex, from Old English æx (“axe”), from Proto-West Germanic *akusi (“axe”), from Proto-Germanic *akwisī (“axe”), probably from a Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʷsih₂ (“axe”), from *h₂eḱ- (“sharp, pointed”). Cognate with Scots aix (“axe”), Dutch aks (“axe”), German Axt (“axe”), Danish økse (“axe”), Faroese, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk øks (“axe”), Icelandic öxi (“axe”), Swedish yxa (“axe”), Latin ascia (“axe, mason's trowel”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).