# lax
## English
### Pronunciation

* (UK, US) IPA: /læks/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -æks
* Homophones: lacs, lacks, lakhs (one pronunciation)

### Alternative forms

* lacks (Killian)

### Etymology 1

From Middle English lax, from Old English leax (“salmon”), from Proto-West Germanic *lahs (“salmon”), from Proto-Germanic *lahsaz (“salmon”), from Proto-Indo-European *laḱs- (“salmon, trout”). Cognate with Middle Dutch lacks, lachs, lasche (“salmon”), Middle Low German las (“salmon”), German Lachs (“salmon”), Norwegian laks (“salmon”), Danish laks (“salmon”), Swedish lax (“salmon”), Icelandic lax (“salmon”), Lithuanian lašišà (“salmon”), Latvian lasis, Russian лосо́сь (losósʹ, “salmon”), Albanian leshterik (“eel-grass”). Doublet of lox.

#### Noun

lax (plural laxes)
* (now chiefly UK dialectal, Scotland) A salmon.

##### Related terms

* gravlax
* lox

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin laxus (“wide, roomy, loose”).

#### Adjective

lax (comparative laxer, superlative laxest)
* Lenient and allowing for deviation; not strict.
    The rules are fairly lax, but you have to know which ones you can bend.
** 1886, John Addington Symonds, Philip Sidney:Society at that epoch was lenient, if not lax, in matters of the passions.
* Loose; not tight or taut.
    The rope fell lax.
** 1701, John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation, […], 3rd edition, London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, […], →OCLC, part II, page 355:The Fleſh of this ſort of [cartilaginous] Fiſh being lax and ſpungy, and nothing ſo firm, ſolid and weighty as that of the bony Fiſhes, and there being a good quantity of Air contained in the Cavity of their Abdomen, they cannot ſink in the Water without letting in ſome of it by theſe Holes (the Orifices whereof are opened and ſhut at pleaſure by the help of Muſcles provided for that purpoſe) into the hollow of their Bellies, whereby they preponderate the Water and deſcend; […]
** 1979, “Genetical Studies on Dense and Lax Panicles In Rice”, in Japan. J. Breed., volume 29, number 2, page 151:Sreedharan and Mirsa (1973) reported that two lax panicle mutants, designated as nude panicle mutation, were obtained from the M$_2$ of two rice cultivars.
* Lacking care; neglectful, negligent.
** 2011 October 1, Phil Dawkes, “Sunderland 2 – 2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport‎:Prior to this match, Albion had only scored three league goals all season, but Wes Brown's lax marking allowed Morrison to head in their fourth from a Chris Brunt free-kick and then, a minute later, the initial squandering of possession and Michael Turner's lack of pace let Long run through to slot in another.
* (mathematics) Describing an associative monoidal functor.
* (archaic) Having a looseness of the bowels; diarrheal.
* (linguistics) (of a vowel) Produced with relatively little constriction of the vocal tract.
    Antonym: tense

##### Synonyms

* (lenient, not strict): permissive, lenient, relaxed
* (loose, not tight): loose, slack
* (lacking care): blameworthy, lash, negligent, remiss, reprehensible

##### Antonyms

* (antonym(s) of “lenient, not strict”): strict
* (antonym(s) of “loose, not tight”): taut, tight

##### Derived terms

* laxness
* lax up
* lax vowel

##### Related terms

* laxity

##### Translations
### Etymology 3

By replacement of the syllable crosse with the cross-shaped letter x.

#### Noun

lax (uncountable)
* (slang) lacrosse.
** 2010, Kate Kingsley, Pretty on the Outside, page 79:“I'm not playing lax this term,” Mimah said.

##### Derived terms

* lax bro

### Etymology 4
#### Noun

lax (plural laxes)
* (informal) Clipping of laxative.

##### Related terms

* ex-lax fish

### Anagrams

* Axl

## Azerbaijani
### Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian لق.

### Adjective

lax (comparative daha lax, superlative ən lax)
* shaky, unsteady, rickety, wobbly
* loose, spacious, loose-fitting
* rotten (of eggs)
    lax yumurta ― rotten egg
* (Baku, Salyan) untruthful
* (Gadabay, Nakhchivan, Ordubad) meaningless

#### Derived terms

* laxlamaq
* laxlatmaq

### Further reading

* “lax” in Obastan.com.

## Catalan
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin laxus.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈlaks]

### Adjective

lax (feminine laxa, masculine plural laxos, feminine plural laxes)
* loose, lax, slack
    Synonym: fluix
    Antonym: tens

#### Related terms

* laxar
* relax

### Further reading

* “lax” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

## Dacian
### Noun

lax
* The edible wild purslane plant.

## German
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin laxus.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /laks/
* Audio:(file)
* Homophones: Lachs, Lacks

### Adjective

lax (strong nominative masculine singular laxer, comparative laxer, superlative am laxesten)
* lax
* (morale or ethics) easy, loose

#### Declension
### Further reading

* “lax” in Duden online
* “lax” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

## Icelandic
### Etymology

From Old Norse lax, from Proto-Germanic *lahsaz.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [laxs], [laks]

### Noun

lax m (genitive singular lax, nominative plural laxar)
* salmon

#### Derived terms

* laxbleikur:
* laxbleikur litur m
* stinglax m

## Latin
### Etymology

From Proto-Italic *laks, from the same source as laciō (“entice”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈlaks/, [ˈɫ̪äks̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈlaks/, [ˈläks]

### Noun

lax f (genitive lacis); third declension
* deception, fraud

#### Declension

Third-declension noun.

#### Synonyms

* fraus

### References

* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “laciō”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 321
* “lax”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* lax in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

### Anagrams

* alx

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* lex

### Etymology

From Old English leax, from Proto-West Germanic *lahs, from Proto-Germanic *lahsaz.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /laks/, /lɛks/

### Noun

lax (plural lax or laxes)
* salmon

#### Descendants

* English: lax
* Scots: lax

#### References

* “lax, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-23.

## Old Norse
### Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *lahsaz. Cognate with Old English leax, German Lachs, English lox, Old High German lahs, Yiddish לאַקס (laks).

### Noun

lax m (genitive lax, plural laxar)
* (zoology) salmon

#### Derived terms

* Laxárdalr

#### Descendants

* Icelandic: lax
* Faroese: laksur
* Norn: laks
* Norwegian Nynorsk: laks
* Elfdalian: laks
* Old Swedish: lax
** Swedish: lax
* Old Danish: lax
** Danish: laks
*** Norwegian Bokmål: laks
* Gutnish: lax

### Further reading

* Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “lax”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive

## Old Swedish
### Etymology

From Old Norse lax, from Proto-Germanic *lahsaz.

### Noun

lax m
* (zoology) salmon

#### Descendants

* Swedish: lax

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin laxus.

### Adjective

lax m or n (feminine singular laxă, masculine plural lacși, feminine and neuter plural laxe)
* lax

#### Declension
## Swedish
### Etymology

From Old Norse lax, from Proto-Germanic *lahsaz.
The 1000 SEK sense probably refers to the salmon color of old 1000 SEK banknotes. Compare the similarly themed older slang skäring, from skär (“pink”); räka (“prawn”); tegel (“brick”); and röding (“char”), from röd (“red”); all referring to the red-pinkish color of old 1000 SEK banknotes. Color and animal-related nicknames for banknotes used to be quite common. Other examples include grönsiska (“siskin; 6 riksdaler 32 skillingar”), kanariefågel (“canary bird; 32 skillingar”), and fågel blå (“blue bird; 500 riksdaler”).
Another possibility is a Romani origin, then derived from Hindi लाख (lākh, “100,000”), from Sanskrit लक्ष (lakṣa), but such a Romani word has not been attested. Cf. lakan with the same meaning.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /laks/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -aks
* Homophone: lacks

### Noun

lax c
* salmon (fish)
    laxar som simmar uppströmssalmon swimming upstream
    odla laxfarm salmon
* salmon (meat)
    Citronpeppar är gott till laxLemon pepper is good on salmon
* (slang) A thousand of some unit of currency, typically SEK.
    Synonyms: lakan, långschal, skäring, papp, lök

#### Derived terms

* laxodling (“salmon farming; salmon farm”)
* laxrosa
* lök på laxen

### References

* lax in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* lax in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* lax in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
* Monica Golabiewski Lannby (2009 December 3) “Sedlarna som satte färg på språket”, in Språktidningen‎, retrieved 2021-11-26
* Monica Golabiewski Lannby (2009) “’LAXAR’ – de skära tusenlapparna”, in Svensk numismatisk tidskrift‎, number 8, Svenska numismatiska föreningen
* Gerd Carling (2005) “lax”, in Romani i svenskan: Storstadsslang och standardspråk, Stockholm: Carlsson, →ISBN, page 89