# wax

> English word · Noun · IPA /wæks/ · frequency rank #8,105

## Definitions
1. Beeswax.
2. Earwax.
3. Any oily, water-resistant, solid or semisolid substance; normally long-chain hydrocarbons, alcohols or esters.
4. Any preparation containing wax, used as a polish.
5. The phonograph record format for music.
6. A thick syrup made by boiling down the sap of the sugar maple and then cooling it.
7. Any of a class of drugs with weed oil and butane as main ingredients; hash oil.

## Etymology
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”).

## Easily confused with
- **we** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-we)
- **wi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-wi)
- **Wu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-wu)
- **wo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-wo)
- **WC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-wc)
- **wt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-wt)
- **WS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-ws)
- **WV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-wv)
- **WD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-wd)
- **WL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-wl)
- **wy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-wy)
- **WF** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-wf)
- **who** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-who)
- **way** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-way)
- **why** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-why)
- **win** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-win)
- **won** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-won)
- **wow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-wow)
- **web** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-web)
- **wet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wax-vs-wet)

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