axis of evil

English

Etymology

Coined by American political commentator David Frum in 2002 and first used publicly by President George W. Bush in the 2002 State of the Union Address. Possibly from a historical analogy to the German-Italian-Japanese axis. Extended to astrophysics by Portuguese scientist João Magueijo in 2005.

Noun

axis of evil (plural axes of evil)

1. A group of states accused by George W. Bush of sponsoring terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction, originally defined as Iran, Iraq, and North Korea.
   • 2010, George W. Bush, Decision Points‎^[1], →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 233:

     I discussed Iraq with Gerhard during his visit to the White House on January 31, 2002. In my State of the Union address two days earlier, I had outlined the threats posed by Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. “States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world,” I said. The media seized on the phrase “axis of evil.” They took the line to mean that the three countries had formed an alliance. That missed the point. The axis I referred to was the link between the governments that pursued WMD and the terrorists who could use those weapons. There was a larger point in the speech that no one could miss: I was serious about dealing with Iraq.

   • 2022 September 9, Marsha Blackburn, “We must stand with Taiwan”, in Tullahoma News‎^[2], Tullahoma, Tennessee, archived from the original on 11 September 2022‎^[3]:

     Communist China is on a mission for dominance. At the helm of the New Axis of Evil, China has indicated they will invade independent countries and destroy democratic leadership to achieve that end. My recent visit to Taiwan made it abundantly clear that the leaders in Taiwan want the United States and our allies to stand with them as they fight to keep their independence.

2. (astrophysics, cosmology) An anomaly in the temperature of the cosmic microwave background as the result of a preferential axis which may have shaped the development of the universe, sometimes abbreviated AOE.

Translations

states supposedly sponsoring terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction

• Arabic: مِحْوَر اَلشَّرّ m (miḥwar aš-šarr)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 邪惡軸心 / 邪恶轴心 (zh) (xié'è zhóuxīn)

• Dutch: as van het kwaad
• Finnish: pahan akseli
• French: axe du mal (fr) m
• Georgian: ბოროტების ღერძი (boroṭebis ɣerʒi)
• German: Achse des Bösen f
• Greek: άξονας του κακού (áxonas tou kakoú)
• Hebrew: ציר הרשע
• Italian: asse della malvagità m, asse del male m
• Japanese: 悪の枢軸 (aku no sūjiku)
• Korean: 악의 축 (ag-ui chuk)
• Latin: axis mali m
• Latvian: ļaunuma ass
• Macedonian: оска на злото f (oska na zloto)
• Persian: محور شرارت
• Polish: oś zła f
• Portuguese: eixo do mal m
• Russian: ось зла f (osʹ zla)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: осовина зла f

  Roman: osovina zla f

• Spanish: eje del mal m
• Swedish: ondskans axelmakter
• Thai: แกนแห่งความชั่วร้าย
• Vietnamese: trục ma quỷ, liên minh ma quỷ, liên minh diệt vong
• Welsh: echel y fall f

See also

• (used by supporters of Iran): axis of resistance
• (astrophysics): dark flow, CMB cold spot