wax [OE] An old English verb weaxan ‘grow, increase’ is now restricted to only a few contexts. We use it to mean ‘become’ in expressions such as ‘he waxed lyrical’ [M20th], and we use it for ‘to grow’ when we talk of the moon waxing and waning. It is possible that the wax [OE] that bees make comes from the same root, in the sense of what grows in the hive, but no one is certain. Waist [LME] seems to come from the same root, perhaps with reference to childbirth. Wane [OE] is from Old English wanian ‘lessen’.