axial vs initial

axial

adj
  • Relating to, resembling, or situated on an axis 

  • Belonging to the axis of the body, or to the axis of any appendage or organ 

  • In the same direction as the axis, parallel to the axis. 

  • oriented close to the axis running through the centre of a cyclohexane ring, as opposed to equatorial. See w:Axial bond. 

noun
  • A plane parallel to the surface of a tooth. 

  • A flight feather that appears between the primaries and secondaries on some birds. 

initial

adj
  • Spatially first, placed at the beginning, in the first position; especially said of the first letter of a word. 

  • Chronologically first, early; of or pertaining to the beginning, cause or origin. 

noun
  • A distinguished initial letter of a chapter or section of a document. 

  • onset, part of a syllable that precedes the syllable nucleus in phonetics and phonology. 

  • The first letter of a word or a name. 

  • In plural, the first letter of each word of a person's full name considered as a unit. 

verb
  • To sign one's initial(s), as an abbreviated signature. 

How often have the words axial and initial occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )