Weax

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. To grow larger or increase in size or strength, an archaic usage ; a sticky, pliable substance once used for candles and sealing, especially made by bees
2. Becoming bigger or more intense over time, as an older verb form ; the honeycomb-making material of bees, used in earlier centuries for candles
3. An old spelling for the verb meaning to enlarge or swell ; an archaic term for the pliable, yellowish material secreted by bees

Etymology: Old English "weax" was the ordinary word for the substance a honeybee makes, and it is the direct ancestor of modern "wax." It belonged to the native Germanic vocabulary of the Anglo-Saxons, so unlike many English words it did not arrive through Latin or French. Its relatives are still around in other Germanic languages, including German "Wachs" and Dutch "was," which shows how old the word is. The most striking shift is that the Old English "weax" was not only a noun. Its verb form, "weaxan," meant "to grow," and it is the source of modern "grow" in one line of descent and of "wax" in the sense "to increase" (as in waxing moon). So the same root gave English both the material made by bees and the idea of something getting bigger, a connection that most speakers never notice.