: any of a genus (Fraxinus) of trees of the olive family with pinnate leaves, thin furrowed bark, and gray branchlets
2
: the tough elastic wood of an ash
3
[Old English æsc, name of the corresponding runic letter]: the ligature æ used in Old English and some phonetic alphabets to represent a low front vowel \a\
Noun (2)
a new and more splendid city was built on the ashes of the old
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
After the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., a thick layer of volcanic ash destroyed the city and then largely preserved it.—Sara Novak, Discover Magazine, 5 June 2024 The Roman city was destroyed in 79 A.D. when Mount Vesuvius, situated nearby, erupted, blanketing the area in a thick layer of ash.—Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 4 June 2024 The trees have fallen or been cut down, namely due to damage from the emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle that has decimated ash trees throughout North America.—Caitlin Looby, Journal Sentinel, 24 May 2024 Researchers noted that being exposed to smoke, ash, and debris is often associated with worse physical health outcomes.—Chantelle Lee, TIME, 16 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for ash
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ash.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun (1)
Middle English asshe, from Old English æsc; akin to Old High German ask ash, Latin ornus mountain ash
Noun (2)
Middle English, usually as plural asshen, askes, axen, ashes, going back to Old English axe, asce (feminine weak noun), going back to Germanic *askōn- (whence also Old Saxon asc-, in ascal "ash-colored," Old High German asca, ascha "ash," Old Norse aska) beside apparent *azgō in Gothic azgo "ash," both of uncertain origin
Note:
The older handbooks see the Germanic etymon as a "root extension" of a verbal base *ā̌s- "burn," in current laryngealist terms *h1eh2s-,*h2h̥1s- "make dry through heat" ("[durch Hitze] vertrocknen" in Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben)—see etymology and note at arid. The discrepancy between West and North Germanic ask- (from *azg-?) and Gothic azg- (from *azgh-?) is variously explained. E. Seebold (Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 22. Auflage) regards the velar extension as a suffix of appurtenance, the ashes being in effect "what belongs to the hearth/fire." (Also of relevance would be Armenian azazim "become dry, wither," if from *h2h̥1s-gh- —see H. Martirosyan, Etymologial Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon, Brill, 2010 s.v.) Seebold sees the "ash" words with long vowels (Hittite ḫāšš- "ashes, dust," Sanskrit ā́saḥ) as parallel derivations, in this case by the employment of lengthened grade. The inconvenient Gothic word azgo is explained as the outcome of a suffixed verbal derivative *haz-d-ko- (on the verbal derivative see azalea). Departing completely from the root-extension hypotheses, G. Kroonen (Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Brill, 2013) sees the Germanic word as a possible compound of Indo-European *h2ed- "dry up" and *dhegwh- "burn."
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