Etymology

borax

B3O1R1A1X8

Today it means: A white or gray/grey crystalline salt, found in nature as a mineral, with a slight alkaline taste, used as a flux, in soldering metals, making enamels, fixing colors/colours on porcelain, and as a soap, etc. Full definition →

Middle English boras ← Anglo-Norman boreis ← Medieval Latin borax
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The story

  1. Middle Persian*bōrag
  2. Arabicبَوْرَق (bawraq)
  3. Medieval Latinborax
  4. Anglo-Normanboreis
  5. Middle Englishboras
  6. English todayborax

From Middle English boras, from Anglo-Norman boreis, from Medieval Latin borax, baurach (“borax”), from Arabic بَوْرَق (bawraq), from Middle Persian bwlk' (bōrag), which yielded Persian بوره (bure).

Words from the same roots

Medieval Latinborax all →

boracic

Arabicبَوْرَق all →

boracic

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.