Axial

How to spell axial

5 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce axial

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does axial mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to, situated on, or forming an axis; running along the central line about which something turns or is arranged.

Axial in a sentence

• The engineer measured the axial load running straight down the column.

• A CT scanner produces axial images, slicing the body in flat cross sections.

Where does axial come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word grows directly from the Latin axis, which meant an axle, a pivot, or the imaginary line about which something turns; the same Latin word also gave us the everyday 'axis' itself. Latin axis is related to a much older Indo-European root for a turning point that also surfaces in Greek and Sanskrit words for an axle. English already had 'axis' by the late 1300s, borrowed straight from Latin, but the adjective 'axial' is a much later scientific formation, appearing in the early 1800s when anatomists, geologists, and physicists needed a precise word for 'lying along, or relating to, an axis'. It was coined simply by adding the adjective ending -al to the axi- stem, which is why the spelling keeps the single x and the i before the -al. Remembering that it is built on 'axis' (axi + al) is the surest guard against dropping the i or doubling a letter.

How the word is built

• axi- (from Latin axis: axle, pivot)
• -al (adjective suffix)