ax
Ask.
Also called aks, ask.
Updated September 21, 2026
ax pronunciation
/aks/
Meaning
Means ask. Same request, older sound. "Ax him" is "ask him." Teachers may mark it wrong. Linguists treat it as a real historical English form that never fully left Southern, Midland, and other speech communities.
How folks use it
- “Go ax your daddy if we can borrow the truck.”
- “They axed him where he stayed all night.”
Origin and etymology
Old English had both ascian and acsian for "ask." The ax form stayed in literary English into the 1500s (Chaucer and early Bible translations used it). Later school English settled on ask. DARE still finds ax chiefly in the South and Midland. Appalachian English kept it in continuous use for over a thousand years of English history, not as a modern invention.
Frequently asked questions
Is ax just a mispronunciation of ask?
No. Both forms go back to Old English. Ask became the schoolbook form. Ax kept living in regional speech.