fax

Clipping of English Fala with x as a placeholder.

fax

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Fala.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Fala terms

• enPR: făks, IPA^(key): /fæks/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: facts (informal US and Canada pronunciation)
• Rhymes: -æks

From Middle English fax, from Old English feax (“hair, head of hair”), from Proto-West Germanic *fahs, from Proto-Germanic *fahsą (“hair, mane”), from Proto-Indo-European *poḱsom (“hair”, literally “that which is combed, shorn, or plucked”), from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to comb, shear, pluck”). Cognate with Dutch vas (“headhair”), German Fachs (“head-hair”), Norwegian faks (“mane”), Icelandic fax (“mane”), Sanskrit पक्ष्मन् (pákṣman, “eyelash, hair, filament”).

fax (usually uncountable, plural faxes)

1. (obsolete or UK dialectal) The hair of the head.
2. (obsolete and derisively) The face.
   • 1710, Gawin Douglas, Virgil's Aeneis, translated into Scottish verse, page 253:

     The fillok hyr deformyt fax wald haue a fair face.

The sense of face, perhaps, could be a misunderstanding of the obsolete word as preserved in poetic phrases. Some other Scots examples in 16th century would admit of a similar interpretation.

• faxed
• Fairfax
• Halifax

Clipping of facsimile, first attested 1979.

fax (plural faxes or (rare) faxxes)

2. Ellipsis of fax machine (“the device for faxing; the medium of communication that it provides”).

   OK, now take it down the hall to the fax.

   You can send it via email or fax. You can use an online fax service where you upload a PDF and then send it to a fax number.

   • 2023 October 29, Zoe Williams, “‘An ironic, self-deprecating metrosexual’: how Matthew Perry captured the spirit of the age”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     The details of his [Matthew Perrry's] relationship with Julia Roberts are so 1990s, it is unreal: he wooed her by fax (yes, kids, this was a thing).

3. A document sent, or received and printed, by a fax machine.

• → Japanese: ファックス

fax (third-person singular simple present faxes or (rare) faxxes, present participle faxing or (rare) faxxing, simple past and past participle faxed or (rare) faxxed)

2. To send a document via a fax machine.
   • 1990, Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, volume 14, page 82:

     Hands trembling with excitement and impatience, I faxxed my credit history to Jerry Raskin, the real estate agent listed, and received an appointment to view the place.

   • 1991, Jury Verdicts Weekly, volume 35, page 10:

     Plaintiff contented that in a game show in London, England, in January of 1988, Mr. Steinberg entered into an oral agreement with Atari representatives to become the exclusive distributor of Atari Games’ products; that the proposed agreement was dictated at this meeting; and that within two days Mr. Steinberg sent defendant a faxxed confirmation of this oral arrangement reached at the London trade show.

   • 1992, Montana National Forest Management Act of 1991: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Public Lands, National Parks and Forests of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, One Hundred Second Congress, First Session on S. 1696; October 22, 1991, Washington: United States Government Publishing Office, →ISBN, pages 140–141:

     SENATOR BAUCUS, IT IS THE THIRD STATEMENT, YOUR CHALLENGE, THAT HAS LED TO THE MOST FRUSTRATION FOR THE PEOPLE I AM REPRESENTING TODAY. WE TOOK YOU AT YOUR WORD AND HAVE RALLIED AND CONVOYED TO MAKE YOU AWARE OF US, TELEPHONED, WRITTEN LETTERS, FAXXED YOU, AND SPOKE WITH YOU PERSONALLY TO LET YOU KNOW HOW WE FEEL.

   • 1993, H. Bruce Franklin, M.I.A., or, Mythmaking in America, revised and expanded paperback edition, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, →ISBN, page 194:

     A few of the corporations involved have frankly acknowledged the roadblock: their own fear of the POW/MIA movement. Some companies scheduled for a trade mission to Vietnam dropped out after receiving a faxxed message from the National P.O.W. Strike Force summed up by its leader: “We will go out of our way to destroy your company because you want to do business with filthy Communists who are holding American prisoners.”

   • 1993, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, Proceedings of the Eleventh National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, →ISBN, page 737, column 1:

     Thanks to Franz Amador and Tony Barrett for helpful discussions. We gratefully acknowledge Oren Etzioni’s emergency faxxing service. This research was funded in part by National Science Foundation Grant IRI-8957302, Office of Naval Research Grant 90-J-1904, and a grant from the Xerox corporation.

   • 1994, Olga Elena Mattei, “Part One: Poetry [§] The Angel of the Millennium (Accident at the Nuclear Plant)”, in Roberta Fernández, editor, In Other Words: Literature by Latinas of the United States, Houston, Texas: Arte Público Press, →ISBN, page 139:

     His logistic: to dress in the skin of the worker, / the technician, the programmer, / infiltrating himself in their milieu, / their offices, their plants, & their boards, / a bug in their systems, / crossing up the controls and the panels, / the wiring, the wave lengths, / the faxxing of messages, the spy-satellites / & their receptors, / changing their conceptions, their charts.

   • 1995, Lucha Corpi, Cactus Blood: A Mystery Novel, Houston, Texas: Arte Público Press, →ISBN, page 151:

     He already has the copy of the other fingerprints that Leo faxxed to him for comparison.

   • 1995 May 17, Ken Luongo, “Comments on GAO Report on CTR Program Concerning MPCA (note to Ken Sanders)”, in Weapons of Mass Destruction: Reducing the Threat From the Former Soviet Union: An Update (United States General Accounting Office, Report to Congressional Requesters), published June 1995, “Background”, page 76:

     On May 12, 1995, Julie Hirshen (GAO) faxxed a draft portion of the GAO Cooperative Threat Reduction report dealing with MPCA.

   • 1996, Middle East Peace Process: Hearing Before the Committee on International Relations House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourth Congress, First Session; September 20, 1995, Washington: United States Government Publishing Office, →ISBN, page 25:

     [162] / Faxxing from Israel / 03-695-0132 / [163] / Calling from abroad / 972-3-695-6868 / Faxxing from abroad / 972-3-695-0132

   • 1997 May 18, Mike Story, “Confirmed....Pilot Modem Has FAX capability!!”, in alt.comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (Usenet):

     Please advise how one faxxes from the Pilot Pro. Faxxing would greatly enhance my use of the Pilot. / Thanks!

   • 1999, Appendix E: Response to Public Comments: Final Environmental Impact Statement For Open Road and Open Motorized Trail Analysis (Motorized Road and Trail Travel Plan):

     Please have Georgia Dixon of Sen Craig’s office have a current copy of the Canadian Endangered Species list faxxed to her from Ottawa, Canada.

Formed with -x from facts; the pronunciation of facts and fax is identical in certain varieties of English.

fax pl (plural only)

1. (informal) Nonstandard form of facts.

   Synonym: trufax

fax

1. (informal) Alternative form of facts (“used to express agreement”).

   Synonyms: fax, no printer; trufax; tru dat; true dat; true that

• 📠

From English fax.

fax

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) fax (document) (Classifier: 張／张 c; 份 c)

   fax機／fax机 [Cantonese]  ―  fek¹ si² gei¹ [Jyutping]  ―  fax machine

fax

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to fax

• English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese

• IPA^(key): [ˈfaks]

fax m inan

1. fax (document)
2. fax, fax machine

• IPA^(key): /fɑks/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: fax
• Rhymes: -ɑks

Borrowed from English fax (“a fax machine; to fax”).

fax m (plural faxen, diminutive faxje n)

1. fax

• telefacsimile
• telefax

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

fax

1. inflection of faxen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Borrowed from English fax.

• IPA^(key): /faks/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

fax m (invariable)

1. fax

   Synonym: télécopie

2. fax machine

   Synonyms: télécopieur, télécopieuse

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

fax

1. singular imperative of faxen

From English (tele)fax, from facsimile. ^[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈfɒks]
• Rhymes: -ɒks

fax (countable and uncountable, plural faxok)

1. (historical) the procedure of faxing (sending a document via a fax machine)
2. (historical) fax, ellipsis of faxkészülék (“fax machine”)
3. (historical) ellipsis of faxüzenet (“fax message/document”)
4. (historical) ellipsis of faxszám (“fax number”)

• fax in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2026).

• IPA^(key): /faxs/
• IPA^(key): /faks/

Inherited from Old Norse fax (“mane”).

fax n (genitive singular fax, nominative plural föx)

1. mane (of a horse)

• makki

Borrowed from English fax, from facsimile, from Latin.

fax n (genitive singular fax, nominative plural föx)

1. fax, telefax (document sent electronically and printed with a fax machine)

   Synonym: símbréf

2. fax machine

   Synonyms: faxtæki, bréfsími

Borrowed from English fax.

• Audio:

  (file)

fax m (invariable)

1. fax
2. fax machine

Uncertain. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰwok(ʷ)-^[1] > Proto-Italic *fwak(ʷ)-.^[2] Potential cognates include facētus and Lithuanian žvakė (“candle”). Compare also Etruscan 𐌚𐌀𐌂𐌄 (face, “torch (?)”). Schrijver argues the -a- can be explained as going back to Proto-Indo-European *o, with unrounding after *w in an originally open syllable (as in the oblique case-forms).^[1][2] According to De Vaan, even if the Latin and Lithuanian words are cognate, the root structure is more consistent with a later loanword rather than a Proto-Indo-European formation.^[2]

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈfaks]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈfaks]

fax f (genitive facis); third declension

1. torch, firebrand
2. fireball, comet
3. cause of ruin, incitement
   • Florus, Epitome of Roman History 1.5-6:

     Igitur statim prima iuventutis face patruum ab arce deturbat, avum reponit.

     • Translation by Edward Seymour Forster

       Romulus, therefore, in the first ardour of youth, expelled his uncle from the citadel and restored his grandfather.

Third-declension noun.

• facella
  • → Italian: facella
• facula

• → Italian: face

• tītiō
• torris

• “fax”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “fax”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), “fax”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive
• "fax", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “fax”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “fax”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “fax”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
• Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 495

• væx (early)

From Old English feax, from Proto-West Germanic *fahs.

• IPA^(key): /faks/

fax (plural faxes)

1. The hair of the head.

• faxwax

• English: fax (obsolete)
• Scots: fax

• “fax, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Borrowed from English fax.

fax m (plural fax)

1. (Jersey) fax

From Proto-Germanic *fahsą, from *peḱ- (“to pluck”).

fax n

1. a mane

• Icelandic: fax
• Faroese: faks
• Norwegian Bokmål: faks
• → Scots: fax (foam-topped wave, swell)

• “fax”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “fax”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), “fax”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive
• "fax", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “fax”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “fax”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Unadapted borrowing from English fax.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfaks/
• Rhymes: -aks
• Syllabification: fax

fax m inan

1. (telephony) alternative spelling of faks

   Synonym: telefax

• “fax”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[2] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “fax”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[3] (in Polish)

fax m (plural faxes)

1. fax (document transmitted by telephone)

• “fax”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “fax”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Unadapted borrowing from English fax.

fax n (plural faxuri)

1. fax

Borrowed from English fax.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfaɡs/ [ˈfaɣ̞s]
• Rhymes: -aɡs
• Syllabification: fax

fax m (plural fax)

1. fax

• “fax”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

• xfa

• Homophone: facks

fax c or n

1. a fax (machine) c
2. a fax (document) n

• telefax

• “fax”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

From Proto-Tai *vaːꟲ (“sky; weather”). Cognate with Thai ฟ้า (fáa), Northern Thai ᨼ᩶ᩣ, Lao ຟ້າ (fā), Lü ᦝᦱᧉ (faa²), Shan ၽႃႉ (phâ̰a) or ၾႃႉ (fâ̰a), Ahom 𑜇𑜠 (pha), 𑜇𑜡 (phā), 𑜇𑜨𑜠 (phoa), 𑜇𑜨𑜡 (phoā) or 𑜇𑜞𑜠 (phra).

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /fa˦˨/
• Tone numbers: fa⁴
• Hyphenation: fax

fax (Sawndip forms 𭱇 or 𫯨 or 𪥉, 1957–1982 spelling faч)

1. (dialectal, including Longzhou) sky

   Synonym: mbwn