earwax

See also: ear-wax and ear wax

English

Alternative forms

ear wax, ear-wax

Etymology

From Middle English erewax, a compound of ere +‎ wax. Equivalent to ear +‎ wax.

Noun

earwax (uncountable)

(medicine, pathology) A waxy substance secreted by the ear.
- c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. Excellently Expressing the Beginning of their Loues, with the Conceited Wooing of Pandarus, Prince of Licia‎^[1], London: Imprinted by G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, and are to be sold at the spred Eagle in Paules Church-yeard, ouer against the great North doore, published 1609, →OCLC, act V, scene 1:
  Her's Agamemnon, an honeſt fellow inough and one that loues quailes, but hee has not ſo much braine as eare-wax, […]

Synonyms

cerumen (technical), wax

Derived terms

earwax impaction

Translations

waxy substance secreted by the ear

Acehnese: èk geulunyueng
Afar: qokká f
Afrikaans: oorsmeer
Albanian: dyllë i veshit m
Apatani: ruhi
Arabic: صِمْلَاخ m (ṣimlāḵ), شَمْع اَلْأُذْن m (šamʕ al-ʔuḏn)
Egyptian Arabic: شمع الودن m (šamʕ el-wedn)
Aranadan: ചെങ്ങനെ (ceŋŋane)
Arikara: atkaraačiísuʾ
Assamese: কণামাকৰি (konamakori), কানৰ মলি (kanor moli)
Bashkir: сайыр (sayır)
Belarusian: вушна́я се́ра f (vušnája sjéra)
Bengali: কানের খৈল (kaner khōil)
Bikol Central: tuli (bcl)
Bulgarian: ушна кал f (ušna kal)
Catalan: cerumen m, cera de les orelles f
Chinese:
Cantonese: 耳屎 (ji⁵ si²), 耳垢 (ji⁵ gau³) (formal), 耵聹 / 耵聍 (ding¹ ning⁴) (formal)

Mandarin: 耳屎 (zh) (ěrshǐ), 耳垢 (zh) (ěrgòu), 耵聹 / 耵聍 (zh) (dīngníng)
Classical Nahuatl: nacazcuitlatl, nacazcuihcuitlatl
Corsican: please add this translation if you can
Cree: ᒥᐢᑭᐦᑌᑯᒼ (miskihtekom)
Czech: ušní maz m
Danish: ørevoks (da) n or c
Deori: akun chokora
Dhivehi: ކަންފަތުގައި މަޑުލުން (kan̊fatugai maḍulun̊)
Dimasa: khamao khee
Dutch: oorsmeer (nl) n, cerumen (nl) n
Emilian: please add this translation if you can
Erzya: пилеой (pileoj)
Esperanto: orelvakso, cerumeno
Estonian: vaik, kõrvavaik
Finnish: vaikku (fi), korvavaha (fi)
French: cérumen (fr) m
Friulian: please add this translation if you can
Galician: cerume m
Georgian: ყურის ცვილი (q̇uris cvili)
German: Ohrenschmalz (de) n, Zerumen (de) n
Greek: κυψελίδα (el) f (kypselída), (colloquial) κερί (el) n (kerí)
Gujarati: કાન મીણ (kān mīṇ)
Hawaiian: kokuli
Hindi: ठेक (hi) (ṭhek), खोंठ (khõṭh), खूँट (khū̃ṭ), कान का मैल (kān kā mail), खुँट (hi) m (khũṭ), कनोई (hi) f (kanoī), कर्णमल (hi) m (karṇamal), पेंजूष (hi) m (peñjūṣ), पिंजूष (hi) m (piñjūṣ), कार्ण (hi) m (kārṇ), तोक्म (hi) m (tokma), ठेँठी (hi) f (ṭhẽṭhī), कर्णागूथ (hi) m (karṇāgūth)
Hungarian: fülzsír (hu)
Icelandic: eyrnamergur (is) m
Ido: cerumeno (io)
Ingush: боалоз (boaloz)
Irish: céir chluaise f
Italian: cerume (it) m
Japanese: 耳垢 (ja) (みみあか, mimiaka, じこう, jikō), (slang) 耳糞 (ja) (みみくそ, mimikuso), (slang) 耳屎 (みみくそ, mimikuso), 耳垢 (ja) (みみあか, mimiaka) (Kyūshū), 耳ん垢 (みみんご, mimingo) (Kyūshū)
Kankanaey: tueng, luek
Khmer: អាចម៍ត្រចៀក (ach tro jeak)
Korean: 귀지 (ko) (gwiji), 귀에지 (gwieji)
Latvian: sērs (lv) m, auss sērs m
Lombard: please add this translation if you can
Lü: ᦃᦲᧉᦠᦴ (ẋii²ḣuu)
Luxembourgish: Ouereschmalz n
Malay: tahi telinga
Malayalam: ചെവിക്കായം (ml) (cevikkāyaṁ)
Malecite-Passamaquoddy: qaqalokossawon
Manchu: ᡥᡡᠰᡠᡵᡳ (hūsuri)
Maori: taeturi, tāturi (mi), tāturi (mi)
Mokilese: pwije
Moksha: пилевай (pilevaj)
Neapolitan: please add this translation if you can
Nepali: काने गुजी (kāne gujī)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: ørevoks (no) m or n

Nynorsk: øyrevoks m or n
Occitan: cerumèn (oc) m
Old English: drōsne f, drōsna m
Pangasinan: olilek
Piedmontese: please add this translation if you can
Polish: woskowina (pl), woszczyna (pl) f
Portuguese: cera de ouvido f, cera (pt) f
Quechua: rinri wira
Romagnol: please add this translation if you can
Russian: ушна́я се́ра f (ušnája séra)
Sanskrit: कर्णमल (sa) m (karṇamala), पेञ्जूष (sa) m (peñjūṣa), पिञ्जूष (sa) m (piñjūṣa), तोक्म (sa) m (tokma)
Santali: ᱮᱲᱜᱳᱫ (eṛgot’)
Scottish Gaelic: cèir-chluaise f
Serbo-Croatian: ушна маст m (ušna mast), слих m (slih)
Sinhalese: කන්කලාඳුරු (kankalāⁿduru), කනේ කලාඳුරු (kanē kalāⁿduru)
Somali: cukey
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: taług z wucha m
Spanish: cerumen m, cerilla (es) f, cera (es) f, cera de los oídos f
Swahili: nta za sikio
Swedish: öronvax (sv)
Tagalog: tutuli
Tajik: чирки гӯш (čirk-i güš)
Telugu: గులిమి (te) (gulimi)
Thai: ขี้หู (kîi-hǔu)
Tibetan: རྣ་སྤགས (rna spags), རྣ་སྤབས (rna spabs), རྣ་སྦངས (rna sbangs)
Ukrainian: вушна́ сі́ра f (vušná síra)
Vietnamese: ráy (vi), ráy tai (vi), cứt ráy (vi)
Welsh: cŵyr clustiau m
Yakut: кулугу (kulugu), кулгаах кулугута (kulgaaq kuluguta)