axle

• IPA^(key): /ˈæksəl/

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• Rhymes: -æksəl
• Homophones: axel, axil

From Middle English axel, axle, eaxle, from Old English eaxl (“shoulder, armpit”), from Proto-West Germanic *ahslu (“shoulder”), from Proto-Germanic *ahslō (“shoulder”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱs-l-eh₂, from *h₂eḱs- (“axis, axle”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian acsle (“shoulder”), Dutch oksel (“armpit”), German Achsel (“armpit”), Swedish axel (“shoulder”), Latin axilla (“armpit”), Latin axis (“axle”), Greek άξονας (áxonas, “axle”), Sanskrit अक्ष (ákṣa, “axle”), Sanskrit कक्ष (kakṣá, “room, armpit”), Russian ось (osʹ, “axle”). Doublet of axis.

axle (plural axles)

1. (obsolete) Shoulder.

From Middle English axil, in turn a combination of Old English eax and Old Norse ǫxull.

axle (plural axles)

1. The pin or spindle on which a wheel revolves, or which revolves with a wheel.
2. A transverse bar or shaft connecting the opposite wheels of a car or carriage; an axletree.
3. (geometry, astronomy, archaic) An axis.

   the Sun's axle

• axle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Axle in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

• Alex, Axel, Lexa, axel

From Old English eaxl.

axle

1. Alternative form of axel

A conflation of Old English eax and Old Norse ǫxull.

axle

1. Alternative form of axil