Flaxen hair is a light yellow, like the pale fibre of the flax plant — the plant we make linen from. It is not a bright gold, and it is not red. Think of dry, pale yellow, almost straw, but softer.

Flaxen hairflaxen的頭髮 is a light yellow是淡黃色的，like the pale fibre of the flax plant就像亞麻植物淡色的纖維一樣—the plant we make linen from也就是我們拿來做亞麻布的那種植物。It is not a bright gold它不是亮金色，and it is not red也不是紅色。Think of想像一下 dry, pale yellow乾乾的淡黃色，almost straw接近稻草色，but softer但更柔和一點。

In stories, a flaxen-haired child is fair in that old picture-book way.

In stories在故事裡，a flaxen-haired child一個flaxen頭髮的孩子 is fair是白皙金髮的 in that old picture-book way用那種老式繪本的味道。

The word is rather literary now. Everyday talk says blonde or fair. You almost never use flaxen for anything except hair, unless someone is writing in an old style.

The word is這個字 rather literary now現在算是相當文言的。Everyday talk日常說話 says blonde or fair會說blonde或fair。You almost never use flaxen你幾乎不會用flaxen for anything except hair來說頭髮以外的東西，unless someone is writing in an old style除非有人用老式文體寫作。

It is flax plus -en, an old ending that meant “made of.” Flaxen cloth was cloth made of flax. Then the colour of that fibre moved onto hair. So the hair word is a colour borrowed from a cloth word, which was borrowed from a plant. That is why it feels old: it has walked a long way to get to the sentence you are reading.

It is這個字是 flax plus -enflax加上-en，an old ending一個古老的字尾 that meant made of意思是「做成的」。Flaxen clothflaxen布 was cloth made of flax就是用亞麻做成的布。Then後來 the colour of that fibre那種纖維的顏色 moved onto hair就轉移到頭髮上了。So所以 the hair word這個頭髮的字 is a colour是一個顏色詞 borrowed from a cloth word是從一個布料詞借來的，which was borrowed from a plant而那個布料詞又是從植物借來的。That is why it feels old這就是為什麼它感覺很古老：it has walked a long way它走了很長一段路 to get to the sentence you are reading才走到你現在讀的這個句子裡。