# fax

> English word · Noun · IPA /fæks/ · frequency rank #12,419

## Definitions
1. The hair of the head.
2. The face.

## Etymology
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”).

## Easily confused with
- **fi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-fi)
- **FL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-fl)
- **FM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-fm)
- **Fe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-fe)
- **fu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-fu)
- **FF** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-ff)
- **FB** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-fb)
- **fo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-fo)
- **FS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-fs)
- **FN** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-fn)
- **FP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-fp)
- **FW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-fw)
- **fy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-fy)
- **for** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-for)
- **few** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-few)
- **fun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-fun)
- **fit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-fit)
- **fix** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-fix)
- **fly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-fly)
- **fox** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fax-vs-fox)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/fax