Saxon

/ˈsæksən/

Saxon noun: a member of an ancient West Germanic tribe that lived at the eastern North Sea coast and south of it.

Noun

Saxon (plural Saxons)

A member of an ancient West Germanic tribe that lived at the eastern North Sea coast and south of it.
- Kenett states that the military works still known by the name of Tadmarten Camp and Hook-Norton Barrow were cast up at this time ; the former, large and round, is judged to be a fortification of the Danes, and the latter, being smaller and rather a quinquangle than a square, of the Saxons.1881, John Kirby Hedges, The history of Wallingford, volume 1, page 170
A native or inhabitant of Saxony, Germany.
- [...] in West Germany Saxony and Saxons became synonymous with Ulbricht's Communist regime, [...]2002, Jonathan Grix, Paul Cooke, East German distinctiveness in a unified Germany, page 142
- The film taught that socialist competition, through encouraging the collaboration of both men and women and Saxons and Berliners, could overcome the natural antagonism between male industrial mass production and female fashion.2005, Judd Stitziel, Fashioning socialism: clothing, politics, and consumer culture, page 69
(Ireland, Wales, poetic) An English/British person.
- Then came the call to arms, love, the heather was aflame / Down from the silent mountains, the Saxon strangers came.1973, Sean McCarthy, “Shanagolden”
(US, dated, rare, uncountable) A size of type between German and Norse, 2-point type.
A kind of rapidly spinning ground-based firework.

Proper noun

Saxon

The language of the ancient Saxons.
Upper Saxon, a dialect of modern High German spoken in Saxony.
- Not everyone from the former GDR states are Saxons – and they do not all speak Saxon, […]2014, Marco Polo, Dresden Marco Polo Guide, →ISBN, page 21
- But does this mean that Germans nowadays speak Saxon? Far from it, in fact; Saxon is the most widely despised dialect in Germany, by a wide margin.2014, Gaston Dorren, Lingo: A Language Spotter's Guide to Europe, →ISBN
A surname.
A male given name transferred from the surname, of modern usage or directly from the noun Saxon.
A census-designated place in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States.
An unincorporated community in Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States.
A town and census-designated place therein, in Iron County, Wisconsin, United States.
A municipality in Martigny district, Valais canton, Switzerland.

Adjective

Saxon (comparative more Saxon, superlative most Saxon)

Of, relating to, or characteristic of the Saxons.
- But his bitch queen was Saxon to the bone and her legacy showed in the sons that Vortigern bred off her. Katigern Minor might be young, but he has become what his grandfather never was – more Saxon than Celt.2009, M. K. Hume, King Arthur: Dragon’s Child, London: Headline Review, →ISBN, page 340
- Eadyth managed to make one of her beekeeping veils into a bridal veil hanging from a circlet of Drifa’s flowers. All this attire was more Saxon than Norse. So she wore her hair in one long braid, Viking style, and at her shoulder was a brooch in a writhing, intertwined animal design. / Her sisters...2010, Sandra Hill, Viking in Love, New York, N.Y.: Avon, →ISBN, page 353
Of, from or relating to Saxony, Germany.
Of, relating to, or characteristic of the Saxon language.
(Ireland, Wales, poetic) Of, relating to, or characteristic of England, typically as opposed to a Celtic nationality.
- He was a large, very Saxon type of man; that is to say, an English one, having shed the vices and cruelties and developed the patience and cool-headedness.1987, Idries Shah, Adventures, Facts and Fantasy in Darkest England, London: The Octagon Press, →ISBN, page 325

Saxon meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Arabic

Saxon in Hindi

member of Saxon tribe: सैक्सन saiksan

Saxon in Tamil

வடக்கு செர்மானியிலுள்ள சாக்ஸன்இன மொழி, பண்டைய ஆங்கிலமொழி, ஆங்கிலேயரின் மூதாதையர், ஆங்கில மொழி பேசுபவர், ஆங்கில இன மரபினர், தற்காலச் சாக்ஸனி நாட்டவர்

Saxon in Arabic

of Saxons, Saxony or Saxon language: سَكْسُونِيّ saksūniyy

More languagesFewer languages

Saxon in Thai: แซกซัน
Saxon in Vietnamese: Sắc

Examples of Saxon in a sentence

Dealing with people there was different from the way I dealt with Saxons, Berliners and others back in Leipzig.2008, Eckbert Schulz-Schomburgk, From Leipzig to Venezuela, page 40:
All this attire was more Saxon than Norse.2010, Sandra Hill, Viking in Love, New York, N.Y.: Avon, →ISBN, page 353:

Forms of Saxon

Noun
plural	Saxons
Adjective
comparative	more Saxon
superlative	most Saxon

Origin of Saxon

Partially from Middle English Saxe, Sax; from Old English *Seaxa (attested in plural Seaxan), and Saxoun, from Old French *Saxoun, Saxon (“Saxon”), from Late Latin Saxōnem, accusative of Saxō (“a Saxon”), both from Proto-West Germanic *sahs, from Proto-Germanic *sahsą (“rock, knife”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”). Doublet of Sais. Cognates Cognate with Middle Low German sasse (“someone speaking Saxon, i.e. (Middle) Low German”), Old English Seaxa (“a Saxon”), Old High German Sahso (“a Saxon”), Icelandic Saxi (“a Saxon”), Estonian saks (“lord; German”), Finnish Saksa (“Germany”). Also cognate to Old English seax (“a knife, hip-knife, an instrument for cutting, a short sword, dirk, dagger”); more at sax.

Words formed from Saxon

Phrases with Saxon

2 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with Saxon

Questions about Saxon

What does Saxon mean?: Saxon means a member of an ancient West Germanic tribe that lived at the eastern North Sea coast and south of it.
What is Saxon in Hindi?: Saxon in Hindi is सैक्सन (saiksan). See Saxon meaning in Hindi.
How do you use Saxon in a sentence?: Dealing with people there was different from the way I dealt with Saxons, Berliners and others back in Leipzig.
What part of speech is Saxon?: Saxon can be a noun, a proper noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce Saxon?: Saxon is pronounced /ˈsæksən/.
What is the plural of Saxon?: The plural of Saxon is Saxons.

Words near Saxon in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: Saxon (page history and authors); saxon (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); saxon (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-Saxon.ogg.

Cite this entry: “Saxon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/saxon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.