ash
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
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Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs-der.?
Proto-Germanic *askǭ
Proto-West Germanic *askā
Old English æsce
Middle English asshe
English ash
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”).
Cognates
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”)).
Inflected forms:
form: ashes
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: ashes
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: ashing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: ashed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: ashed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: Solid remains of a fire.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The audience was more captivated by the growing ash at the end of his cigarette than by his words.
Ash from a fireplace can restore minerals to your garden's soil.
Ashes from the fire floated over the street.
Ash from the fire floated over the street.
The family collected the ashes after burning the body.
gloss: The nonaqueous remains of a material subjected to any complete oxidation process.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Fine particles from a volcano, volcanic ash.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Human (or animal) remains after cremation.
pos: noun
tags: countable
in-plural
uncountable
examples: The urn containing his ashes was eventually removed to a closet.
gloss: Mortal remains in general.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
countable
in-plural
uncountable
examples: Napoleon’s ashes are not yet extinguished, and we’re breathing in their sparks.
gloss: What remains after a catastrophe.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
uncountable
examples: Now, it's Haiti that needs help to rebuild and rise from the ashes [of an earthquake].
gloss: A gray color, similar to that of the remains of a fire.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The resultant remaining more stable patterns that emerge from the evolution of a soup or a similarly random pattern.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: To reduce to a residue of ash. See ashing.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: I dried the extracted leather very slowly on the steam bath […] until the substance was dry enough to ash. […] I think that the discrepancy in the percentages of "total ash" by method No. 2 and No. 6 is due to this excessive heat required to ash the leather […]
The inorganic material left after ashing lung tissue specimens not only contains inhaled particles but also very large quantities of inorganic residue derived from the tissue itself.
Ash and silica contents of the plant material were determined by classical gravimetric techniques. Tissue samples were ashed in platinum crucibles at about 500 °C, and the ash was treated repeatedly with 6 N hydrochloric acid to remove other mineral impurities.
A 10-g food sample was dried, then ashed, and analyzed for salt (NaCl) content by the Mohr titration method (AgNO₃ + Cl → AgCl). The weight of the dried sample was 2g, and the ashed sample weight was 0.5g.
gloss: To hit the end off (a burning cigar or cigarette).
pos: verb
tags: Australia
ambitransitive
examples: "Nonsense," Mrs. Gardiner challenged, ashing her cigarette.
He realized that he was standing staring at her and he sat down quickly, making a business of ashing his cigarette.
Hamilton ashed his cigar, and studied the end of it for some moments without speaking.
‘He’s right, you know,’ said Archie earnestly, ashing a fag in an empty curry bowl.
gloss: To mark (someone) with an ashen cross on the forehead to observe Ash Wednesday.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To cover newly-sown fields of crops with ashes.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
examples: Last spring, after I planted, I took what ashes I have saved during the last year, and put on my corn […] . On harvesting I cut up the two rows which were not ashed (or twenty rods of them,) and set them apart from the others in stouts; and then I cut up two rows of the same length, on each side, which had been ashed, […]
After the corn was planted, upon acre A, I spread broadcast one hundred bushels of lime, (cost $3) and fifty bushels of ashes, (cost $6.) […] The extra crop of the combination over the limed acre or ashed, was paid by the increased crop, […]
Derived words: acid-ash
ashbin
ash blond
ash-blond
ash blonde
ash-blonde
ash bread
ash cake
ashcake
ashcan
ash cash
ash-colored
ash-coloured
ashdump
ashen
ashery
ashfall
ashfield
ashflow
ash gourd
ash gray
ash grey
ash-heap
ash-heap-cake
ash heap of history
ashhole
ash-hole
ash-hopper
ashless
ashlike
ashman
Ash Monday
ash pan
ashpan
ashpit
ash pit
ash pumpkin
ash-red
ash stand
ash-throated crake
ashtray
Ash Wednesday
ashweed
ashy
bone ash
deash
flash the ash
fly ash
lime-ash
pearl ash
pearl-ash
pearlash
potash
satinash
soda ash
the Ashes
ultramarine ash
volcanic ash
Translations: