sax

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a Belgian maker of musical instruments who invented the saxophone (1814-1894)
  2. noun a single-reed woodwind with a conical bore

Etymology

From Middle English sax, sex, from Old English seax (“a knife, hip-knife, an instrument for cutting, a short sword, dirk, dagger”), from Proto-West Germanic *sahs, from Proto-Germanic *sahsą (“stone chip, knife”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”). Doublet of seax and zax.

In classic literature

Synonyms

Adolphe Sax

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