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flaxen

flaxen

3 7.5
Pale yellow hair like dry straw
  • adjective
  • /ˈflaksən/
translation icon : rubio
  • With her flaxen strands flowing down her back, she looked like a princess.
  • flaxen hair
  • flaxen tresses
  • flaxen-haired

Examples

  • The bride was sixteen: high-spirited and high-colored, her flaxen hair wound up in tight rolls beneath her bridal tiara to form the curving lobes of a playing card heart.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Sarah, fifteen years old, with flaxen hair and bright blue eyes, approaches Macleod with a water pail.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • - I mean, beautiful... ...flaxen-haired lady who tells him what to do.

  • What am I bid for this flaxen-haired Teutonic beauty?

  • At the restaurant he managed, a flaxen-haired young waitress flirted with him as a matter of course.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • "All the little boys and girls "with rosy cheeks and flaxen curls.

  • Abruptly, Amy appeared, a flaxen-haired young woman in a crumpled orange dress.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Her sleek and delicate profile was limned by her lustrous flaxen hair, which appeared to glow in the half-light.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • The young girl had beautiful flaxen hair that shimmered in the sunlight.

  • He admired the flaxen locks of the child playing in the garden.

Synonyms

straw
vsflaxen
33 1.3

A pale yellow color like dry stalks of grain

is applied to hair shades within that same pale tint range
wheat
vsflaxen
12 1.0

A pale yellow color like dry grain

is more specific to hair tones resembling plant fiber color
yellowish
vsflaxen
11 1.1

Slightly yellow in color

is a narrower hair color term focusing on pale warm brown
sandy
vsflaxen
9 1.0

Having pale yellow or light brown hair

is named for pale plant fiber color rather than hair only
yellowish-white
vsflaxen
1 2.3

White with a slight yellow tint

is richer and browner, not as near to very pale tones
wheaty
vsflaxen
5.3

A pale yellowish brown color like ripe wheat

is used mainly for hair shades resembling plant fiber tones
oaty
vsflaxen
4.8

A pale light brown color like dry cereal grain

leans more toward pale warm brown used for hair color
xanthous
vsflaxen
  • Specialized
9.9

Having a yellow color like an egg yolk

is paler and browner, used for light hair shades rather than vivid hue

Antonyms

1.0

With little or no light and not bright

3 2.1

Having dark brown or black hair

How Pale

flaxen
3 7.5
blond
176 1.0
fair
191 1.0
dark
588 1.0

Surface Forms

flaxen positive

Morphology

flaxen = flax (transparent) = flax + en

The adjective is a direct formation from the noun 'flax' with the productive suffix '-en' meaning 'made of' or 'having the color of', so the meaning is directly derivable.

Etymology

Flaxen comes from the plant flax and the ending -en, which turns the word into a describing word. Because flax has pale yellow fibers used for linen, flaxen means 'like the pale yellow color of flax', especially for hair.