masse

See also: Masse, massé, Massé, mâsse, Maße, mäße, and mæsse

English

Noun

masse (plural masses)

1. Obsolete form of mass.

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed via German Masse from Latin massa (“lump, bulk”), which is itself a loan from Ancient Greek μᾶζα (mâza, “barley bread”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /masə/, [ˈmasə]

Noun

masse c (singular definite massen, plural indefinite masser)

1. mass, pulp (a shapeless, thick substance)
2. (in the definite singular or plural) multitude, crowd, mob (an anonymous group of people)

   Synonyms: folkemasse, hob

3. (determiner, in the indefinite singular or plural) many, loads, a lot, lots (in the singular with the other noun as an apposition, in the plural with the preposition af)

   Der var en masse mennesker på gaden.

   There were lots people in the streets.

   Jeg har masser af ideer.

   I have many ideas.

4. (physics) mass (quantity of matter in a body)

Declension

Declension of masse

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	masse	massen	masser	masserne
genitive	masses	massens	massers	massernes

References

• “masse” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mas/

• Audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Latin massa, from Ancient Greek μᾶζα (mâza, “bread”).

Noun

masse f (plural masses)

1. a paste, a dough
2. large amount or quantity of something; mass
3. something perceived as a whole, without distinguishing its parts
4. a sum or combination of things treated as a whole
5. a majority, especially of people
6. an archaic unit of count
7. (finance, law) a sum of allotted money
8. (physics) mass
9. (electronics) earth, ground (of e.g. a plug)

Derived terms

• à la masse
• centre de masse
• de masse
• des masses
• en masse
• indice de masse corporelle
• masse atomique
• masse au repos
• masse d’air
• masse d’armes
• masse salariale
• pas des masses

 

Descendants

• → Romanian: masă

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

masse

1. inflection of masser:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Etymology 3

Inherited from Old French mace, from Vulgar Latin *mattia, *mattea (compare Occitan massa, Catalan maça, Italian mazza, Spanish maza, Portuguese maça), probably derived from Latin mateola (“hoe”).

Noun

masse f (plural masses)

2. mace (weapon)
3. a sledgehammer
4. thick end of a billiards cue, mace

Related terms

• massue

Further reading

• “masse”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• semas

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin magis.

Adverb

masse

1. Too much

Italian

Noun

masse f pl

1. plural of massa

Anagrams

• Messa, messa

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman masse, from Latin massa, from Ancient Greek μᾶζα (mâza).

Alternative forms

• massa, mace, mas

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmas(ə)/

Noun

masse (plural massez)

2. A lump, blob, or mass.
3. A collection or mass of small objects that are fused together.
4. (anatomy) blood (believed in medieval times to be a mixture of the four humours)

Related terms

• massy
• massif

Descendants

• English: mass
• Scots: mass
• Yola: messe

References

• “masse, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-27.

Etymology 2

Noun

masse

1. Alternative form of messe (“mass, religious service”)

Derived terms

• Childermasse

Etymology 3

Adjective

masse

1. Alternative form of massy (“massy”)

Etymology 4

Noun

masse

1. Alternative form of mace (“mace”)

Etymology 5

Noun

masse

1. Alternative form of mase (“a bewildering thought or thing”)

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin massa.

Noun

masse m (definite singular massen, indefinite plural masser, definite plural massene)

1. a mass

Derived terms

• atommasse
• biomasse
• landmasse
• luftmasse
• massemedium
• masseprodusere
• massevis
• tremasse

 

References

• “masse” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin massa.

Noun

masse m (definite singular massen, indefinite plural massar, definite plural massane)

1. a mass

Derived terms

• atommasse
• biomasse
• landmasse
• luftmasse
• massemedium
• massevis
• tremasse

 

References

• “masse” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Irish

Noun

masse n

1. Alternative spelling of maisse

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
masse also mmasse after a proclitic ending in a vowel	masse pronounced with /β̃(ʲ)-/	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈma.si/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈma.si/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈma.se/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈma.sɨ/

Noun

masse m (plural masses)

1. (Mozambique) a drink made from sour milk
2. (Mozambique) curdled milk

References

• “masse”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024