different between waxen vs woxen

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English waxen, from Old English weaxen, ?eweaxen, from Proto-Germanic *wahsanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *wahsijan? (“to wax, grow, increase”), equivalent to wax +? -en (past participle ending).

Adjective

waxen (comparative more waxen, superlative most waxen)

1. (Britain, dialectal) Grown.

Etymology 2

Verb

waxen

1. (archaic) alternative past participle of wax.
2. (obsolete) plural simple present of wax
   • 1540, Great Bible, Second Edition, Preface

     And they that occupye them been in muche savegarde, and have greate consolacyon, and been the readyer unto all goodnesse, the slower to all evyll: and if they have done anything amysse, anone even by the sight of the bookes, theyr conscvences been admonished, and they waxen sory and ashamed of the facte.

   • 1579, Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender

     When the rayne is faln, the cloudes wexen cleare.

   • 1590-97, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, II, i

     And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,

     And waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear

     A merrier hour was never wasted there.

Etymology 3

From Middle English waxen (“made of wax”), from Old English weaxen (“waxen, made of wax”), equivalent to wax +? -en (“made of”).

Adjective

waxen (comparative more waxen, superlative most waxen)

2. Made of wax; covered with wax.
   • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act II, Scene 4,^[1]

     She is fair; and so is Julia that I love—

     That I did love, for now my love is thaw’d;

     Which, like a waxen image, ’gainst a fire,

     Bears no impression of the thing it was.

3. Of or pertaining to wax.
4. Having the pale smooth characteristics of wax, waxlike, waxy.
   • 1950, Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast, Penguin, 1969, Chapter 28, p. 185,^[2]

     It was hard to imagine that the broken thing had once been new; that those withered, waxen cheeks had been fresh and tinted. That her eyes had long ago glinted with laughter.

5. (rare) Easily effaced, as if written in wax.

Derived terms

• waxen chatterer
• waxen image

Translations

Middle English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?waks?n/, /?w?ks?n/

Etymology 1

From Old English weaxan, from Proto-Germanic *wahsijan?.

Alternative forms

• waxenn, waxin, waxyn, waxe, wax, wexen, wexsyn, wexe, wexi, vexen

Verb

waxen

2. To grow (become larger):
   1. To grow up; to become fully grown.
   2. To wax (of the moon); to rise (of the tide).
3. To increase in amount; to multiply
4. To increase in magnitude; to magnify
5. To appear; to arise.
6. To change; to turn (to or into something)
7. To become, to assume (a quality or state)

Usage notes

Already in Old English, this verb's conjugation varied; in Northumbria, the original class 6 conjugation was retained, while elsewhere, the verb went over to class 7; this variation persists in Middle English. Further variation results from levelling of forms during the Middle English period.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• faxwax
• wax
• waxyng

Descendants

• English: wax
• Scots: wax

References

• “waxen, v.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

From wax (“wax”) +? -en (“infinitival ending”).

Alternative forms

• waxyn, waxe, wax, wexen

Verb

waxen

2. to wax (apply wax to; cover in wax)
3. (rare) to stop (a hole)

Conjugation

Descendants

• English: wax

References

• “waxen, v.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 3

From wax (“wax”) +? -en (“made of”).

Adjective

waxen

2. (hapax) waxen (made of wax)

Descendants

• English: waxen

References

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

Middle English

Verb

woxen

1. past participle of wax

   • To every wight she woxen is so deere

     And worshipful, that folk ther she was bore

     And from hir birthe knewe hir yeer by yeere,

     Unnethe trowed they, - but dorste han swore -

     That she to Janicle, of which I spak bifore,

     She doghter nere, for as by conjecture,

     Hem thoughte she was another creature.