kex

K5E1X8
UK/kɛks/

noun

The dried stem of certain large herbaceous plants.

OriginMiddle English kex →
RareScrabble 14
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Meanings

nounkex (plural kexes)

plural kexes · alternative kix

  1. dialectalobsoleteThe dried stem of certain large herbaceous plants.

    "I suppose you'll want a dish o' tay, or victuals of some sort, hey? […] I should be as dry as kex wi' travelling so far."

    1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles
  2. obsoletebiologyA plant having such a stem; a weed, a kecksy.
  3. rareA dry husk or covering.

    On the bedside table a new package of cigarettes and a traveling clock had for neighbor a nicely wrapped box containing the green figurine of a girl skier which shone through the double kix.

    1972, Vladimir Nabokov, Transparent Things, McGraw-Hill, published 1972, pages 100–101

Origin

  1. Middle Englishkex
  2. Englishkex

From Middle English kex. Origin unknown; but compare Welsh cecys (“hollow stalks”) and Welsh cegid (“hemlock”), apparently from the same source as Latin cicūta (“hemlock”).

More words from Middle English

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with kex

xsexcomplexexspecsannextexflexrexhexxxxxlexbxcodexCSXvextranssexperplexJexprexintertexClexcryptexfecks
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

kex. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kex

MLA

“kex.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kex. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kex,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kex.

Source: kex on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.