Etymology

flax

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Today it means: A plant of the genus Linum, especially Linum usitatissimum, which has a single, slender stalk, about a foot and a half high, with blue flowers. Also known as linseed, especially when referring to the seeds. Full definition →

Middle English flax ← Old English fleax ← Proto-Germanic *flahsą
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*pleḱ-“to plait”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*flahsą
  3. Old English · inherited fromfleax
  4. Middle English · inherited fromflax
  5. English todayflax

From Middle English flax, from Old English fleax, from Proto-Germanic *flahsą, from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- (“to plait”). Cognate with Old Frisian flax, Dutch vlas, Old High German flahs (German Flachs); the Northern Germanic (and most likely the Gothic too) stem is different.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*pleḱ- all →

plyflaskflackflagonsupplicateplash

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.