Word of the Day: May 29, 2009 - axis

axis (ak-seez) - noun

An axis is "an imaginary line about which a rotating body, such as the earth, turns."

First used in the written form around 1595–1605. Axis is the center of a complex web of "turning" words. Besides its immediate source, the Latin word axis, there were Greek axon, Sanskrit akshas, and a hypothetical Germanic akhso, which produced the Old English eax 'axle' as well as modern German achse 'axle, shaft' and Dutch as; and there could well be a connection with the Latin agere.