mashup

See also: mash-up

English

WOTD – 23 October 2020

Alternative forms

mash-up

Etymology

From mash (“to convert into a mash; to mix thoroughly”) + up.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmæʃˌʌp/
Audio (Received Pronunciation): (file)
Hyphenation: mash‧up

Noun

mashup (plural mashups)

(informal) Something consisting of two or more elements combined together.
1. (art, slang) An artistic work that consists primarily of parts borrowed from other works, or features a mixture of genres.
  - 2018 November 27, April Wolfe, “Anna And The Apocalypse is a Holiday-horror Cocktail of Singing, Maiming, and Clichés”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 4 November 2019:
    What's tiresome about Anna, though, is that it's such an obvious mashup of other movies, moving from homage right into ripoff.
2. (music, slang) A remix created by combining two or more songs from different artists into one piece of music.
  Coordinate terms: blend, medley
  - 2016 May 23, Isabelle Hellyer, “Here are 9 of the Best and Most Upsetting Soundclowns we Could Find”, in VICE‎^[2], archived from the original on 4 October 2025:
    Rock, Hip-Hop, Country, Hardcore — all of it pales in comparison to this genre, one genre to rule them all: Soundclown. How do I describe this sound? Do I say, “it’s weird mashups”? No. Because that wouldn’t be accurate enough. Should I tell you it “blends of funny and popular songs, with the bmp^[sic] and pitch altered in surprising ways”? Of course not. That does it no justice. I simply must show you.
3. (chiefly computing, slang) A derivative work consisting of two or more pieces of (generally digital) media joined together, such as a video clip with a different soundtrack applied for humorous effect, or a map overlaid with user-supplied data.
4. (Internet) A Web application that combines data or functionality from more than one source.
  This app is a mashup mixing news from the BBC and maps from Google.

Related terms

mashable

Translations

something consisting of two or more elements combined together

artistic work that consists primarily of parts borrowed from other works, or features a mixture of genres

derivative work consisting of two or more pieces of media joined together

German: Mashup (de) n
Spanish: mezcla (es)

Web application that combines data and/or functionality from more than one source

Spanish: web híbrida f, hibriweb f

remix created by combining two or more songs from different artists into one piece of music

German: Mashup (de) n, Bastard Pop m
Spanish: mezcla (es) f, mezcladiza f

References

^ “mash-up, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2006; “mashup, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

Uphams, hams up

[1] “mash-up, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2006; “mashup, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

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