Axle

How to spell axle

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce axle

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does axle mean?

1. nounThe rod or shaft on which a wheel or pair of wheels turns.

Axle in a sentence

• The mechanic warned that the front axle was bent after the pothole.

• A loud knock from the rear axle meant another costly repair.

Where does axle come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

Axle comes from the Old Norse word oxull, meaning the rod or pin on which a wheel turns, which Norse-speaking settlers brought into Middle English as axel during the medieval period. It is closely related to the native Old English eax, which carried the same idea of a turning axis, and both ultimately descend from an ancient root meaning 'shoulder' or 'pivot point' that also produced the Latin axis. Over time the spelling settled into the modern form ending in -le, the same quiet ending found in words like handle and spindle. The everyday sense never strayed far: it has always meant the shaft that carries a wheel. Because the final syllable is an unstressed schwa, writers occasionally confuse it with the unrelated 'axel' of figure skating or the botanical 'axil', so it pays to remember the plain -le ending.

How the word is built

• ax- (axis, the line a wheel turns on)
• -le (Old English/Norse noun suffix)

Words that sound like axle

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• axel: A figure-skating jump taken off from the forward outside edge of one skate, with an extra half rotation in the air.