ash

¹

[ash]

noun

1. the powdery residue of matter that remains after burning.

2. Also called volcanic ash. Geology.,  finely pulverized lava thrown out by a volcano in eruption.

3. a light, silvery-gray color.

4. ashes,

   1. deathlike grayness; extreme pallor suggestive of death.

   2. ruins, especially the residue of something destroyed; remains; vestiges.

      the ashes of their love;

      the ashes of the past.

   3. mortal remains, especially the physical or corporeal body as liable to decay.

   4. anything, as an act, gesture, speech, or feeling, that is symbolic of penance, regret, remorse, or the like.

ash

²

[ash]

noun

1. any of various trees of the genus Fraxinus, of the olive family, especially F. excelsior, of Europe and Asia, or F. americana white ash, of North America, having opposite, pinnate leaves and purplish flowers in small clusters.

2. the tough, straight-grained wood of any of these trees, valued as timber.

3. Also æsc the symbol “æ.”

ash

¹

/ æʃ /

noun

1. the nonvolatile products and residue formed when matter is burnt

2. any of certain compounds formed by burning See soda ash

3. fine particles of lava thrown out by an erupting volcano

4. a light silvery grey colour, often with a brownish tinge

ash

²

/ æʃ /

noun

1. any oleaceous tree of the genus Fraxinus, esp F. excelsior of Europe and Asia, having compound leaves, clusters of small greenish flowers, and winged seeds

2. the close-grained durable wood of any of these trees, used for tool handles, etc

3. any of several trees resembling the ash, such as the mountain ash

4. any of several Australian trees resembling the ash, esp of the eucalyptus genus

ASH

³

/ æʃ /

acronym

1. Action on Smoking and Health

ash

⁴

/ æʃ /

noun

1. the digraph æ , as in Old English, representing a front vowel approximately like that of the a in Modern English hat. The character is also used to represent this sound in the International Phonetic Alphabet

Other Word Forms

• ashiness noun
• ashless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of ash¹

First recorded before 950; Middle English a(i)sshe, Old English asce, æsce; cognate with Frisian esk, Dutch asch, Old Norse, Old High German aska ( German Asche ), Gothic azgo, from unattested Germanic askōn- (with Gothic form unexplained); akin to Latin ārēre “to be dry” ( arid ) and āra “altar,” Oscan aasaí “on the altar,” Tocharian ās- “to get dry,” Sanskrit ā́sa- “ashes,” Hittite hassi “on the hearth”; from Proto-Indo-European root as- “to burn, glow” (unattested)

Origin of ash²

First recorded before 900; Middle English asshe, Old English æsc; cognate with Frisian esk, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch asch, Old Saxon, Old High German asc ( German Esche, with altered vowel from the adjective derivative eschen, Middle High German eschîn ), Old Norse askr; akin to Latin ornus, Welsh onnen, Russian yáseń, Polish jesion, Czech jasan, Lithuanian úosis, Armenian hatsʰi; Albanian ah “beech,” from Proto-Indo-European ōs, os “ash (tree)” (unattested)

Word History and Origins

Origin of ash¹

Old English æsce; related to Old Norse, Old High German aska, Gothic azgō, Latin aridus dry

Origin of ash²

Old English æsc; related to Old Norse askr, Old Saxon, Old High German ask, Lithuanian uosis

Example Sentences

"Everything's gone, turned to ashes... There's no way to live here," he lamented.

Read more on Barron's

Brian and Anne discovered the error just days before they planned to return to Scotland to scatter their mother's ashes.

Read more on BBC

By comparing surrounding layers of ash, they determined that the remains date back roughly 404,000 years to a notably warm phase of the Middle Pleistocene Epoch.

Read more on Science Daily

Debris and ash have been cleared, but tree-lined streets have been replaced by miles of dirt lots.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Rooms are still coated with a thick blanket of ash and littered with melted appliances and mattress coils—the shells of beds that were set on fire.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• drab 
• dusty 
• grey 
• silvery