fax
/fæks/noun, verb, interjection
fax is spelled F-A-X: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.3 times per million words in written English, the 12,397th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fax means “The face” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fax is faxes; Wiktionary also lists faxxes (rare).
How many letters and syllables are in fax?
| Letters | 3: F-A-X |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.3 times per million words; the 12,397th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in 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).
How common is fax?
Fax appears 4.3 times per million words in written English, the 12,397th 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 fax?
- /fæks/
Fax 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-fax.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with fax
Also written: all fax, no printer, facts, facts, no printer.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of fax
- faxes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- faxxes plural, rare, present, singular, he/she/it
- faxing participle, present
- faxxing participle, present, rare
- faxed participle, past
- faxxed participle, past, rare
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does fax mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
UKobsoleteThe hair of the head.
- 2
The face.
- 3
Ellipsis of fax machine (“the device for faxing; the medium of communication that it provides”).
OK, now take it down the hall to the fax.
- 4
A document sent, or received and printed, by a fax machine.
verb
- 1
To send a document by means of a fax machine.
interjection
- 1
informalAlternative form of facts (“used to express agreement”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate fax?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of fax: fx.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Fax in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fax, télécopie , faxer, oïn |
| German | Fax, fax , faxen, fernkopieren |
| Portuguese | fax , mandar/enviar por fax |
| Spanish | fax, telefax, telefacsímil , faxear |
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 fax come from?
From Middle English fax, from Old English feax (“hair, head of hair”), from Proto-West Germanic *fahs, from Proto-Germanic *fahsą (“hair, mane”), from Proto-Indo-European *poḱsom (“hair”, literally “that which is combed, shorn, or plucked”), from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to comb, shear, pluck”). Cognate with Dutch vas (“headhair”), German Fachs (“head-hair”), Norwegian faks (“mane”), Icelandic fax (“mane”), Sanskrit पक्ष्मन् (pákṣman, “eyelash, hair, filament”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).