massage

A man giving a woman a shoulder massage

See also: Massage

English

Etymology

From French massage (noun), from masser (“to massage”) (borrowed around the end of the 18th century from Arabic مَسَّ‎ (massa, “feel, touch”)) + -age. Cognate to German massieren.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /məˈsɑʒ/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmæsɑʒ/

Noun

massage (countable and uncountable, plural massages)

1. The action of rubbing, kneading or hitting someone's body, to help the person relax, prepare for muscular action (as in contact sports) or to relieve aches.

   Having a massage can have many beneficial effects.

   • 2014, Gary Vitacco-Robles, Icon: The Life, Times and Films of Marilyn Monroe Volume 2 1956-1962 AND Beyond

     During the long lapses in work common with on-location productions, Marilyn would silently meditate as Roberts provided a shoulder massage.

Hyponyms

• erotic massage
• Thai massage
• See also Thesaurus:therapy

Derived terms

• automassage
• massager
• massotherapy

Related terms

• massage parlour (massage parlor)
• massage therapist
• masseur, masseuse

Translations

rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body

• Albanian: masazh (sq) m, fërkim (sq) m
• Arabic: تَدْلِيك‎ m (tadlīk), تَمْسِيد‎ m (tamsīd), مَسَاج‎ m (masāj)

  Hejazi Arabic: مَسَاج‎ m (masāj)

• Armenian: մերսում (hy) (mersum)
• Asturian: masaxe m
• Azerbaijani: masaj
• Belarusian: маса́ж m (masáž)
• Bengali: ম্যাসেজ (mjasej)
• Bulgarian: маса́ж (bg) m (masáž)
• Burmese: အနှိပ် (my) (a.hnip)
• Catalan: massatge m
• Cherokee: ᎦᏅᎦᎸᏗ (ganvgalvdi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 按摩 (zh) (ànmó), 馬殺雞, 马杀鸡 (mǎshājī)

• Czech: masáž (cs) f
• Danish: massage (da) c
• Dutch: massage (nl) f
• Esperanto: masaĝo
• Estonian: masseerimine, massaaž
• Faroese: vøddamýking f
• Finnish: hieronta (fi)
• French: massage (fr) m
• Galician: masaxe f, freta f
• Georgian: მასაჟი (masaži)
• German: Massage (de) f
• Greek: μάλαξη (el) f (málaxi)

  Ancient: μάλαξις f (málaxis)

• Hebrew: עִסוּי / עיסוי‎ m (isúy)
• Hindi: मालिश (hi) (māliś)
• Icelandic: nudd
• Indonesian: pijat (id), urut (id)
• Italian: massaggio (it) m
• Japanese: マッサージ (ja) (massāji), 按摩 (ja) (あんま, anma)
• Kazakh: массаж (massaj)
• Khmer: ការគក់ច្របាច់ (kaa kŭək crɑbac), ម៉ាស្សា (maassaa), សម្ពាហកម្ម (sampiəhaʾkam)
• Korean: 마사지 (ko) (masaji), 안마 (ko) (anma)

• Kurdish: gemirandin (ku) f, perixandin (ku) f, mistdan (ku) f, masaj (ku) f
• Kyrgyz: массаж (massac)
• Lao: ສັມພາຫະ (sam phā ha)
• Latin: frictio (la) f
• Latvian: masāža f
• Lithuanian: masažas m
• Macedonian: маса́жа f (masáža), тр́лање n (tŕlanje)
• Malay: urut
• Maltese: massaġġi
• Mongolian: иллэг (mn) (illeg), массаж (massaž)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: massasje m

  Nynorsk: massasje m

• Persian: ماساژ‎ (fa) (mâsâž)
• Polish: masaż (pl) m
• Portuguese: massagem f
• Romanian: masaj (ro) n, masare (ro) f
• Russian: масса́ж (ru) m (massáž)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: масажа f

  Roman: masaža (sh) f

• Slovak: masáž m
• Slovene: masaža f
• Spanish: masaje (es) m
• Swedish: massage (sv) c
• Tajik: массаж (massaž), молиш (tg) (moliš)
• Telugu: మర్దనము (te) (mardanamu)
• Thai: การนวด (th) (gaan-nûuat)
• Turkish: masaj (tr)
• Turkmen: massaž
• Ukrainian: маса́ж m (masáž)
• Urdu: مساج‎ (masāj)
• Uyghur: ماساژ‎ (masazh)
• Uzbek: massaj (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự xoa bóp, sự đấm bóp (vi)
• Welsh: tylino (cy) m
• Yiddish: מאַסאַזש‎ (masazh)

Verb

massage (third-person singular simple present massages, present participle massaging, simple past and past participle massaged)

1. (transitive) To rub and knead (someone's body or a part of a body), to perform a massage on (somebody).
   • 2010, January 11, Julian Kaye, "Massage Therapy" [1]

     So after massaging a nude woman while being nude or nearly nude myself, sex is a natural way to end things.

2. (transitive) To manipulate (data, a document etc.) to make it more presentable or more convenient to work with.
   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 118:

     News relating to public disturbances was systematically massaged [...].

   • 2008, Patrick Wintour & Steven Morris, The Guardian, May 22 2008, p. 3:

     The Conservatives have massaged expectations down by saying they would be delighted with a majority of 1,000 [...]

3. (transitive) To falsify (data or accounts).

Translations

to perform a massage on somebody

• Arabic: دَلَّكَ‎ (dallaka), مَسَّدَ‎ (massada)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 𢱕骨 (dap⁶ gwat¹)

  Mandarin: 按摩 (zh) (ànmó)

• Czech: masírovat (cs)
• Dutch: masseren (nl)
• Esperanto: masaĝi
• Estonian: masseerima
• Finnish: hieroa (fi)
• French: masser (fr)
• German: massieren (de)
• Greek: μαλάσσω (el) (malásso)
• Hungarian: masszíroz (hu)
• Japanese: マッサージする (ja) (massāji suru)
• Korean: 마사지하다 (ko) (masajihada)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: perxandin (ku)

• Lao: ນວດ (nūat)
• Latin: frīcō
• Macedonian: маси́ра (masíra), тр́ла (tŕla)
• Maori: mirimiri, kōmuru, kōmurumuru
• Polish: masować (pl)
• Portuguese: massagear
• Romanian: masa (ro), a face masaj
• Russian: масси́ровать (ru) impf (massírovatʹ), де́лать масса́ж impf (délatʹ massáž)
• Spanish: masajear (es)
• Swedish: massera (sv)
• Telugu: మర్దించు (te) (mardiñcu)
• Thai: นวด (th) (nûuat)
• Turkish: masaj yapmak
• Vietnamese: xoa bóp, tẩm quất (vi)
• Volapük: masetön

to manipulate data or a document

• Dutch: manipuleren (nl)
• German: schönen (de)

• Hungarian: kozmetikáz
• Romanian: manipula (ro)

to falsify data or accounts

• Dutch: vervalsen (nl)

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Dutch

Etymology

From French massage.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɑˈsaːʒə/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mas‧sa‧ge

Noun

massage f (plural massages, diminutive massagetje n)

1. physical massage

Related terms

• masseur m

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French

Etymology

masser +‎ -age

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /masaʒ/

Noun

massage m (plural massages)

1. physical massage

Related terms

• masser
• masseur m, masseuse f

Descendants

• Arabic: مَسَاج‎ (masāj)
• Catalan: massatge
• Czech: masáž
• Dutch: massage
• Esperanto: masaĝo
• Estonian: massaaž

• German: Massage
• Italian: massaggio
• Khmer: ម៉ាស្សា‎ (maassaa‎)
• Kudish: masaj
• Macedonian: масажа (masáža)

• Polish: masaż
• Russian: масса́ж (massáž)
• Spanish: masaje
• Swedish: massage
• Turkish: masaj

Further reading

• “massage” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Swedish

Etymology

From French massage.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maˈsɑːɧ/

Noun

massage c

1. massage

Declension

Declension of massage
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	massage	massagen	massager	massagerna
Genitive	massages	massagens	massagers	massagernas

Related terms

• massera
• massör, massös