Mass

See also: mass, maß, Maß, Mass., and måss

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmæs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æs
• Homophone: mass

Etymology 1

From Middle English messe, from Old English mæsse and Old French messe, both from Late Latin missa, from Latin mittō (“to send, dismiss”), compare French messe. In the ancient churches, the public services at which the catechumens were permitted to be present were called missa catechumenorum, ending with the reading of the Gospel. Then they were dismissed with the words: "Ite, missa est", the congregation is dismissed. After that the sacrifice proper began. At its close the same words were said to those who remained. So the word gave the name of Mass to the sacrifice in the Catholic Church. Compare Christmas, Lammas, missal. Doublet of missa.

Noun

Mass (countable and uncountable, plural Masses)

1. (Roman Catholic Church) The principal liturgical service of the Church, including a scripture service and a eucharistic service, which includes the consecration and oblation (offering) of the host and wine.
2. A similar ceremony offered by a number of Christian churches.
3. (music) A musical composition set to portions of the Mass.

Derived terms

• dry mass
• Fore-Mass
• High Mass
• Low Mass
• Mass bell

 

Related terms

• Divine Liturgy

Translations

Roman Catholic Church: the principal liturgical service

• Albanian: meshë (sq) f
• Arabic: قُدَّاس‎ m (quddās)
• Armenian: պատարագ (hy) (patarag)
• Belarusian: імша́ f (imšá)
• Breton: Oferenn f
• Bulgarian: ме́са (bg) f (mésa)
• Catalan: missa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 彌撒 (zh), 弥撒 (zh) (mísā)

• Czech: mše (cs) f
• Dalmatian: masa f
• Danish: messe
• Dutch: dienst (nl) m, gebedsdienst (nl) m, mis (nl) m or f, misdienst f
• Esperanto: meso
• Estonian: missa
• Finnish: messu (fi)
• French: messe (fr) f
• Friulian: messe f
• Galician: misa f
• Georgian: მესა (mesa)
• German: Messe (de) f
• Greek: λειτουργία (el) f (leitourgía)
• Hebrew: מִיסָה‎ f
• Hungarian: mise (hu), szentmise
• Hunsrik: Mess f
• Irish: Aifreann m
• Italian: messa (it) f
• Japanese: ミサ (misa)
• Khmer: អភិបូជា (ʼaʼphibouciə)
• Korean: 미사 (ko) (misa)
• Kyrgyz: месса (messa)
• Latvian: mise f

• Lithuanian: mesa (lt) f
• Macedonian: миса f (misa)
• Malay: misa (ms)
• Maltese: quddiesa
• Maori: miha
• Norman: mêsse f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: messe m or f

  Nynorsk: messe f

• Occitan: messa (oc) f
• Polish: msza (pl) f
• Portuguese: missa (pt) f
• Romanian: mesă (ro) f, liturghie (ro) f
• Russian: ме́сса (ru) f (méssa)
• Sardinian: miscia f
• Scottish Gaelic: Aifreann m or f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: миса f

  Roman: misa (sh) f

• Slovak: omša (sk) f
• Slovene: maša (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: mša f, namša f

• Spanish: misa (es) f
• Swedish: mässa (sv) c
• Tagalog: misa
• Tajik: месса (messa)
• Ukrainian: ме́са f (mésa)
• Vietnamese: thánh lễ, lễ mét
• Walloon: messe (wa) f
• Welsh: offeren f

a musical composition set to portions of the Mass

• Finnish: messu (fi)
• German: Messe (de) f
• Irish: Aifreann m
• Polish: msza (pl) f

• Scottish Gaelic: Aifreann m or f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: mša f, namša f

• Welsh: offeren f

Etymology 2

Short forms.

Proper noun

Mass

1. Abbreviation of Massachusetts.

   the Mass Pike

2. Alternative form of Mas

Anagrams

• ASMS, ASMs, MSAs, SAMs, SMAs, SMSA, Sams, sams

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Faroese

Proper noun

Mass m

1. a male given name

Usage notes

Patronymics

• son of Mass: Massson
• daughter of Mass: Massdóttir

Declension

	Singular
	Indefinite
Nominative	Mass
Accusative	Mass
Dative	Massi
Genitive	Mass

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German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -as

Noun

Mass n (strong, genitive Masses, plural Masse)

1. Switzerland and Liechtenstein standard spelling of Maß.

Declension

Declension of Mass [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Mass	die	Masse
genitive	eines	des	Masses	der	Masse
dative	einem	dem	Mass, Masse1	den	Massen
accusative	ein	das	Mass	die	Masse

¹Now uncommon, see notes.

Further reading

• “Mass” in Duden online

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Hunsrik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mas/

Noun

Mass f (plural Masse)

1. mass

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

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Luxembourgish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mas/, [mɑs]
• Rhymes: -ɑs

Etymology 1

From Middle High German misse, from Old High German missa (variant of messa), from Latin missa. Cognate with English mass, German Messe, Hunsrik Mess, Danish messe, Dutch mis.

Noun

Mass f (plural Massen)

1. (Roman Catholicism) mass; Mass (kind of liturgical service)

Derived terms

• Doudemass
• Fréimass
• Krankemass

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French masse.

Noun

Mass f (plural Massen)

1. mass (great quantity)
2. paste, dough
3. (physics) mass, weight
4. (electronics) earth, ground