Etymograph

English

flaxen

Flaxen comes from Old English fleaxen ‘of flax’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to fold, plait, weave’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-1‘to fold, plait, weave’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*flahsą2‘flax’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*flahs2‘flax’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fleax3‘linen, flax’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150fleaxen4‘of flax’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500flaxen4
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2005flaxen4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *flahsą
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English fleax
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Old English fleaxen
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English flaxen
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2005, Nathan J. Johnson, Robert J. Wallis: “In Snorri's Skaldskaparmal (see Faulkes 1998 [1987]: 96), Loki…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *flahsą‘to fold, plait, weave’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*flahsąWiktionary, Old English fleax‘flax’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*flahsWiktionary, Old English fleax‘flax’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fleaxWiktionary, Old English fleaxen‘linen, flax’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150fleaxenWiktionary, English flaxen‘of flax’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500flaxenWiktionary, English flaxen
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2005flaxenWiktionary, English flaxen. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2005, Nathan J. Johnson, Robert J. Wallis: “In Snorri's Skaldskaparmal (see Faulkes 1998 [1987]: 96), Loki…”

Formed from flax + -en ‘made of’

Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to plait’

Proto-Germanic *flahsą

Proto-West Germanic *flahs

Old English fleax ‘linen, flax’

Middle English flax ‘Flax or its fibres’

English flax

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to fold, plait, weave’

complex, apply, reply, display, employment, employ, explicit, exploitation, exploit, imply, deploy, replica, implicit, complication, fiasco, complicate, accomplice, ploy, ply, inexplicable, complicity, supple, implicate, plexus, pliable, supplication, flack, triplicate, pliant, explication, splay, flagon, 34 more

Today it means

adj Made of or resembling flax fibers.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “flaxen”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *flahsą, Old English fleax, Old English fleaxen. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- / flaxen

Shirt and support for this word