lax

Meanings

Noun

• A salmon.
• Lacrosse.

Adjective

• Lenient and allowing for deviation; not strict.
• Loose; not tight or taut.
• Lacking care; neglectful, negligent.
• Describing an associative monoidal functor.
• Having a looseness of the bowels; diarrheal.

Related

Similar words

• permissive, lenient, relaxed
• loose, slack
• blameworthy, lash, negligent, remiss, reprehensible

Opposite words

• strict
• taut, tight

Origin

• From Middle English lax, from Old English leax ("salmon"), from Proto-West Germanic *lahs ("salmon"), from Proto-Germanic *lahsaz ("salmon"), from Proto-Indo-European *laḱs- ("salmon, trout"). Cognate with Middle Dutch lacks, lachs, lasche, Middle Low German las ("salmon"), German Lachs ("salmon"), Norwegian laks ("salmon"), Danish laks ("salmon"), Swedish lax ("salmon"), Icelandic lax ("salmon"), Lithuanian lašišà ("salmon"), Latvian lasis, Russian лосо́сь ("salmon"), Albanian leshterik ("eel-grass"). lox.
• Borrowed from Latin laxus ("wide, roomy, loose").