Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
boxen en · ADJ · etymology 1
Etymology
From Middle English boxen, replacing earlier bixen, from Old English byxen (“made of boxwood”), equivalent to box + -en.
Meanings
-
Made of boxwood.
-
Resembling box (the wood).
Forms
boxen en · NOUN · etymology 2
Etymology
From box (“computer”) + -en (archaic/Germanic plural suffix), by analogy with VAXen and possibly also oxen.
Meanings
-
(form-of, humorous, nonstandard, plural) plural of box (“computer”)
Reality: Sun and HP are hardware companies. They make boxen.
2004, Joel Spolsky, chapter 40, in Joel on Software, Apress, →ISBN, page 287:
Relateds
VAXen