Wax is an organic, plastic-like substance that is solid at ambient temperature and becomes liquid when melted. Because wax is plastic in nature, it usually deforms under pressure without the application of heat.

The following summarizes the general features of wax:

Solid at ambient temperature
Thermoplastic in nature
Combustible
Liquid at 110 to 200°F
Insoluble in water
The term "wax" is applied to a large number of chemically different materials. Technological advances in the world today have led to an increasing number of commercially available substances of various chemical compositions and properties which have acquired the name "wax". In the most general terms waxes are "naturally" or "synthetically" derived. Waxes can be further categorized by origin as follows:

Natural Waxes –
Animal Waxes – Beeswax, Lanolin, Tallow
Vegetable Waxes – Carnauba, Candelilla, Soy
Mineral Waxes
Fossil or Earth – Ceresin, Montan
Petroleum – Paraffin, Microcrystalline
Synthetic (man-made)
Ethylenic polymers e.g. polyethylene & polyol ether-esters
Chlorinated naphthalenes
Hydrocarbon type, e.g. Fischer-Tropsch