axis
pronunciation
How to pronounce axis in British English:
UK [ˈæksɪs]
How to pronounce axis in American English:
US [ˈæksɪs]
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- Noun:
- a straight line through a body or figure that satisfies certain conditions
- the center around which something rotates
- the main stem or central part about which plant organs or plant parts such as branches are arranged
- a group of countries in special alliance
- the 2nd cervical vertebra; serves as a pivot for turning the head
Word Origin
- axis
- axis: [14] Axis is at the centre of a complex web of ‘turning’ words. Besides its immediate source, Latin axis, there were Greek áxōn, Sanskrit ákshas, and a hypothetical Germanic *akhsō which produced Old English eax ‘axle’ as well as modern German achse ‘axle, shaft’ and Dutch as; and there could well be a connection with Latin agere (source of English act, agent, etc) in the sense ‘drive’.Also related is an unrecorded Latin form *acslā, which produced āla ‘wing’ (source of English aileron and aisle); its diminutive was axilla ‘armpit’, from which English gets the adjective axillary [17] and the botanical term axil [18].=> aileron, aisle, axil
- axis (n.)
- 1540s, "imaginary straight line around which a body (such as the Earth) rotates," from Latin axis "axle, pivot, axis of the earth or sky," from PIE *aks- "axis" (cognates: Old English eax, Old High German ahsa "axle;" Greek axon "axis, axle, wagon;" Sanskrit aksah "an axle, axis, beam of a balance;" Lithuanian aszis "axle"). Figurative sense in world history of "alliance between Germany and Italy" (later extended unetymologically to include Japan) is from 1936. Original reference was to a "Rome-Berlin axis" in central Europe. The word later was used in reference to a London-Washington axis (World War II) and a Moscow-Peking axis (early Cold War).
Example
- 1. The power of the axis is easily exaggerated .
- 2. This example displays the different objects on each axis .
- 3. Traffic jams are rare , even at 5pm when the ministries empty and everyone sails home along the huge central axis .
- 4. The ruling elite is ideologically isolated and relies for strategic clout on an axis with syria 's floundering regime .
- 5. The red army destroyed 507 axis divisions .