Wax is a soft, smooth substance that becomes liquid when heated and solid when cool. Bees make beeswax to build the honeycomb structures where they store honey and raise their young. People use different kinds of wax for candles, crayons, car polish, and even surfboards. When you light a candle, the heat melts the wax, which then fuels the flame.

The word also means to polish something with wax, like waxing a car to make it shiny, or waxing a wooden floor to protect and brighten it.

Wax has another completely different meaning: to grow larger or stronger. The moon waxes as it grows from a thin crescent toward a full moon, then wanes as it shrinks back down. Someone might wax poetic about their favorite book, meaning they speak about it with growing enthusiasm and eloquence. This kind of waxing captures that sense of something building, expanding, or becoming more intense, like when a storyteller waxes enthusiastic about an adventure they experienced.