“ashes” is a form of
ash
/ˈæʃ/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms ashes ashing ashed
- noun The solid remains of a fire. “The audience was more captivated by the growing ash at the end of his cigarette than by his words.”
- noun (chemistry) The nonaqueous remains of a material subjected to any complete oxidation process.
- noun Fine particles from a volcano, volcanic ash.
- noun (in the plural) Human (or animal) remains after cremation. “The urn containing his ashes was eventually removed to a closet.”
- noun (archaic, in the plural) Mortal remains in general. “Napoleon’s ashes are not yet extinguished, and we’re breathing in their sparks.”
- noun (figuratively) The aftermath or remains of a catastrophe.
- noun A gray color, similar to that of the remains of a fire.
- noun (cellular automata) The resultant remaining more stable patterns that emerge from the evolution of a soup or a similarly random pattern.
- verb (ambitransitive, chemistry) To reduce to a residue of ash. See ashing.
- verb (Australia, ambitransitive) To hit the end off (a burning cigar or cigarette).
- verb (transitive, Christianity, chiefly passive voice) To mark (someone) with an ashen cross on the forehead to observe Ash Wednesday.
- verb (obsolete, chiefly passive voice) To cover newly-sown fields of crops with ashes.
- noun (countable, uncountable) A shade tree of the genus Fraxinus. “The ash trees are dying off due to emerald ash borer.”
- noun (countable, uncountable) Any tree of certain species of other genera.
- noun (uncountable) The wood of this tree.
- noun The traditional name for the ae ligature (æ), as used in Old English.
- proper noun (Egyptian mythology) The Egyptian god of oases.
- proper noun Oisc, also spelled Æsc or Ash, an Anglo-Saxon king of Kent
- proper noun A topographic surname from Middle English for someone who lived near ash trees.
- proper noun A unisex given name transferred from the surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English aisshe, asche, ash, asshe, axe, eshe, esk, from Old English acse, asċe, axe, axse, æsċe, from Proto-West Germanic *askā, from Proto-Germanic *askǭ (“ash”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs- (“to be dry; to burn; hearth; ashes”).
Cognate with Yola ashen, oaskean (“ashes”), Saterland Frisian Ääske (“ash”), West Frisian jiske (“ash”), Alemannic German Äsche (“ash”), Cimbrian èssa (“ash”), Dutch as, asch (“ash”), German Asche (“ash”), Limburgish Aïsch, Aïsche, Äsch (“ash; grayling”), Luxembourgish Äsch (“ash”), Vilamovian oś, oš (“ash”), Yiddish אַש (ash, “ash”), Danish aske (“ash”), Faroese øska (“ash, ashes”), Icelandic and Swedish aska (“ash”), Norwegian Bokmål aske (“ash”), Norwegian Nynorsk oske (“ash”), Gothic 𐌰𐌶𐌲𐍉 (azgō, “ash; cinder”); Breton and Cornish ster (“stars”), Welsh sêr (“stars”), Latin āreō (“to be dry or parched; to be dried up or withered”), Greek αστέρας (astéras), αστέρι (astéri), άστρο (ástro, “star”), Armenian աստուճ (astuč), աշտուճ (aštuč, “dry (of bread)”), Avestan 𐬯𐬙𐬀𐬭 (star, “star”), Baluchi استار (astár / istár), استال (istál, “star”), Central Kurdish ئەستێرە (estêre, “star”), Northern Kurdish stêr (“star”), Ossetian стъалы (st’aly, “star”), Pashto ستوری (stóray, “star”), Persian سِتَارَه (setāra / sitâre, “star; destiny, fate; spark”), Hittite 𒄩𒀸𒊭𒀀𒀸 (ḫa-aš-ša-a-aš, “fireplace, hearth”), Ashkun istã́ (“star”), Tocharian A āştär (“pure”), Tocharian B astare (“pure”), Sanskrit आस (āsa, “ashes; dust”).
The rare plural axen is from Middle English axen, axnen, from Old English axan, asċan (“ashes”) (plural of Old English axe, æsċe (“ash”)).
From Middle English aissh, asch, asche, ashe, assche, assh, asshe, esch, haish, from Old English æsċ, from Proto-West Germanic *ask, from Proto-Germanic *askaz (“ash”), from Proto-Indo-European *Heh₃s- (“ash”).
Cognate with Scots aish (“ash”), North Frisian eskebuum (“ash”), West Frisian esk (“ash”), Cimbrian ess (“ash”), Dutch es (“ash”), German Esche (“ash”), Limburgish èsj (“ash”), Luxembourgish Esch (“ash”), Yiddish אַשבוים (ashboym, “ash”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish ask (“ash”), Faroese ask, askur (“ash”), Icelandic askur (“ash”); also Welsh onn, ynn (“ash”), Latin ornus (“rowan”), Greek οξιά (oxiá, “beech; wood”), Albanian ah (“beech”), Latgalian ūss (“ash”), Latvian osis (“ash”), Lithuanian uosis (“ash”), Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian я́сень (jásenʹ, “ash”), Bulgarian я́сен (jásen, “ash”), Czech jasan (“ash”), Macedonian јасен (jasen, “ash”), Polish jasion, jesion (“ash”), Serbo-Croatian ја̏се̄н, jȁsēn (“ash”), Slovak jaseň (“ash”), Slovene jésen (“ash”), Armenian հացի (hacʻi, “ash”).
Transliteration of Persian آش.
Abbreviation.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A genus of trees of the Olive family, having opposite pinnate leaves, many of the species furnishing valuable timber, as the European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and the white ash (F. Americana).
- noun The tough, elastic wood of the ash tree.
- noun sing. of Ashes.
- verb To strew or sprinkle with ashes. Howell.
Etymology [OE. asch, esh, AS. æsc; akin to OHG. asc, Sw. & Dan. ask, Icel. askr, D. esch, G. esche.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “ash”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details