flax
n. uncountablen. a plant with blue flowers that people grow for its seeds and strong fibers. You use the fibers to make linen cloth and the seeds to make healthy oil.
n. a blue-flowered herbaceous plant, Linum usitatissimum, cultivated for its textile fibers and nutrient-rich seeds. The fibers are processed into linen, while the seeds yield linseed oil.
Farmers harvest flax to make linen fabric.
The ancient Egyptians were among the first to cultivate flax for weaving lightweight clothing.
While synthetic materials dominate the modern market, flax remains a sustainable alternative for high-quality textiles and industrial lubricants derived from its seed oil.
From Middle English flax, from Old English fleax, from Proto-Germanic flahsą, from Proto-Indo-European pleḱ- (“to plait”). Cognate with Old Frisian flax, Dutch vlas, Old High German flahs (German Flachs); the Northern Germanic (and most likely the Gothic too) stem is different.
Typically uncountable when referring to the crop or the fiber; countable when referring to specific botanical varieties.