moss

See also: MOSS, Moss, and möss

English

Etymology

From Middle English mos, from Old English mos (“bog, marsh, moss”), from Proto-Germanic *musą (“marsh, moss”), from Proto-Indo-European *mūs-, *mews- (“moss”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Moas (“moss”), West Frisian moas (“moss”), Dutch mos (“moss”), German Low German Moss (“moss”), German Moos (“moss”), Danish mos (“moss”), Swedish mossa (“moss”), Icelandic mosi (“moss”), Latin muscus (“moss”), Russian мох (mox, “moss”), Polish mech. Doublet of mousse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɒs/
• enPR: môs, IPA^(key): /mɔs/
• enPR: mäs, IPA^(key): /mɑs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒs
• Rhymes: -ɔːs

Noun

moss (countable and uncountable, plural mosses)

1. Any of various small, green, seedless plants growing on the ground or on the surfaces of trees, stones, etc.; now specifically, a plant of the phylum Bryophyta (formerly division ).

   Hypernym: bryophyte

2. (countable) A kind or species of such plants.
3. (informal) Any alga, lichen, bryophyte, or other plant of seemingly simple structure.

   Hyponyms: alga, cryptogam, lichen

   Spanish moss

   Irish moss

   club moss

4. (now chiefly UK regional) A bog; a fen.

   the mosses of the Scottish border

Usage notes

• The plural form mosses is used when more than one kind of moss is meant. The singular moss is used referring to a collection of moss plants of the same kind.

Derived terms

terms derived from the noun moss

• American moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
• animal moss (Bryozoa)
• apple-moss (Bartramia spp.)
• arctic moss (Cladonia rangiferina)
• a rolling stone gathers no moss
• ball moss ()
• bear moss ()
• beard moss (Usnea spp., et al)
• besom moss ()
• bird's-nest moss ()
• black moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
• blanket moss ( spp, Cladophora spp.)
• bog moss (Sphagnum moss, plant)
• broom moss ()
• Canary moss (, now )
• caribou moss (Cladonia rangiferina)
• carrageen moss (Chondrus crispus)
• cedar moss ()
• ceratodon moss ( spp.)
• Ceylon moss (?, )
• chalice moss (Cladonia)
• chin-cough moss (Cladonia)
• club moss, club-moss, club-foot moss (Lycopodiaceae)
• common moss ()
• coral moss ()
• cord moss ( spp.)
• Cornish path moss ()
• Corsican moss ()
• crape moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
• cup-moss (Cladonia)
• cypress moss (; )
• ditch moss (Elodea spp.)
• draw moss (Eriophorum vaginatum)
• duck moss ()
• dyer's moss ()
• enmoss
• feather moss ( spp. et al)
• fern moss ()
• film moss ()
• fir moss ()
• fire moss ()
• Florida moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
• flowering moss (; ; ()
• fountain moss (Fontinalis spp.; )
• giant moss ( spp.)
• gold moss/golden moss ()
• gold spoon moss ()
• granite moss (Chondrus crispus)
• gray moss (Tillandsia usneoides; Usnea spp.)
• hair moss, hairy moss (Polytrichum)
• haircap moss ()
• hanging moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
• head moss (Usnea spp., et al)
• heath-moss (Polytrichum)
• horned moss ()
• house moss
• Iceland moss ()
• idle-moss
• Irish moss (Chondrus crispus)
• Jaffna moss (, )
• Japanese moss ()
• Java moss (

, possibly ) Template:rel-mid4

• long moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
• luminous moss ()
• lung moss (esp. )
• maidenhair moss (, )
• moss-agate
• moss animal, moss animalcule (Bryozoa)
• moss-back, mossback
• moss-backed, mossbacked, mossy-backed
• moss-bag
• moss-bank
• moss-basket
• moss bass (Micropterus salmoides)
• moss bee ()
• moss berry, mossberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos)
• mossbluiter (Botaurinae)
• moss-box
• moss bush ()
• moss campion ()
• moss carder, moss-carder bee ()
• moss-cheeper (Anthus pratensis; )
• moss-copper ( spp.)
• moss coral (Bryozoa)
• moss corn ()
• moss crab ()
• moss crêpe
• moss crop (Eriophorum vaginatum; ; ; , now )
• moss duck (Anas platyrhynchos)
• moss-earth
• mossed
• mossen
• mosser
• mossery
• moss fern (Polypodium)

• moss-fiber, moss-fibre
• moss-flow
• moss forest
• moss frog (Rhacophoridae)
• mossful
• moss gold (, now )
• moss green
• moss-grown, mossgrown
• moss-hag, moss-hagg
• moss-hagger
• moss hair
• moss-head
• moss horn
• moss-house
• mossify
• mossland
• mossless
• mosslike
• moss-litter
• moss-locust ()
• moss-oak
• moss opal
• moss-peat
• moss phlox (Phlox subulata)
• moss pink ()
• mossplant ()
• moss-polyp (Bryozoa)
• moss-rake
• moss-reeve
• moss rose ()
• moss-rush (, )

• moss-seat
• moss-starch
• moss stitch
• moss-tenant
• moss-trooper
• mosstroopery
• moss-trooping
• moss whin ()
• moss willow ()
• moss-wood
• moss-work
• mossy
• muskeag moss (Sphagnum spp.)
• oak moss ()
• old moss
• pearl moss (Chondrus crispus)
• peat moss (Sphagnum)
• pigeon-wheat moss (Polytrichum)
• plume moss (
• purple horn toothed moss ()
• rainbow moss ()
• reindeer moss (Cladonia rangiferina)
• rock moss (Chondrus crispus)
• rose moss ()
• round-leaved feather-moss ()
• salt rock moss (Chondrus crispus)
• scale-moss (Jungermanniales)
• sea moss (Chondrus crispus, spp.)
• snake moss (Lycopodium clavatum)
• southern moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
• Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
• spike moss (Selaginellaceae)
• split moss (Andreaeales)
• springy turf moss ()
• square goose-neck moss ()
• staghorn moss, stag's horn moss (Lycopodium clavatum)
• starry thyme-moss/stellar calcareous moss (Mnium spp.)
• sun moss ()
• swamp moss (Sphagnum spp.)
• thrush moss ()
• tree moss (esp. )
• Turk's-cap moss ()
• unmossed
• urn moss ()
• velvet moss ()
• water moss (Fontinalis spp.)
• white moss ()
• willow moss (, possibly )
• wolf's moss ()
• worm moss ()

Translations

plants of the division Bryophyta

• Albanian: myshk (sq) m
• Arabic: أُشْنَة f (ʔušna), طُحْلُب m (ṭuḥlub)
• Armenian: մամուռ (hy) (mamuṙ)
• Assamese: শেলাই (xelai), মছ (mos), মছ-শেলাই (mos-xelai)
• Azerbaijani: mamır (az)
• Bashkir: мүк (mük)
• Basque: goroldio
• Belarusian: мох m (mox)
• Bengali: শৈবাল (śōibal)
• Bikol Central: lumot
• Brunei Malay: galugut
• Bulgarian: мъх m (mǎh)
• Burmese: ရေညှိ (my) (rehnyi.)
• Casiguran Dumagat Agta: lumot
• Catalan: molsa (ca) f
• Central Melanau: lumut
• Chichewa: ndere
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 青苔 (zh) (qīngtái), 苔蘚／苔藓 (zh) (táixiǎn), 苔藓 (zh) (táixiǎn)

• Chuvash: мӑк (măk)
• Czech: mech (cs) m
• Danish: mos (da) c
• Drung: mvchin
• Dupaningan Agta: lumot
• Dutch: mos (nl) n
• Eastern Cham: ꨒꨲꩄ (nhjưch)
• Esperanto: musko
• Estonian: sammal (et)
• Evenki: n'amulla (swamp)
• Faroese: mosi m
• Fijian: lumi (fj)
• Finnish: sammal (fi)
• French: mousse (fr) f
• Friulian: muscli m
• Georgian: ხავსი (xavsi)
• German: Moos (de) n
• Greek: βρύο (el) n (vrýo), μούσκλο (el) n (moúsklo)

  Ancient: βρύον n (brúon)

• Greenlandic: issuatsiaq
• Hawaiian: limu
• Hebrew: טַחַב (he) m (t'kháv)
• Hindi: काई (hi) f (kāī)
• Hungarian: moha (hu)
• Icelandic: mosi (is) m
• Ilocano: lumot
• Indonesian: lumut (id)
• Irish: caonach m
• Italian: muschio (it) m
• Japanese: 苔 (ja) (こけ, koke), コケ (koke), 蘚苔 (せんたい, sentai)
• Kazakh: мүк (mük)
• Khmer: ស្លែ (km) (slae)
• Komi-Permyak: рой (roj)
• Korean: 이끼 (ko) (ikki)
• Kurdish:
• Kyrgyz: мох (moh)
• Latgalian: syuna f, syunys f pl
• Latin: muscus m
• Latvian: sūnas f pl, sūna f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lithuanian: samanos m
• Luxembourgish: Moos m or n
• Macedonian: мов m (mov)
• Malay: lumut
• Maltese: ħażiż m
• Maori: rimu, pūkohukohu
• Masbatenyo: lumot
• Mongolian: хөвд (mn) (xövd)
• Nanai: намолта (namolta) (swamp)
• Nogai: тулан (tulan)
• Northern Sami: darfi, sámmál, sámil
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mose (no) m

  Nynorsk: mose m

• Occitan: mossa (oc) f, mofa (oc) f, molsa f
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: мъхъ m (mŭxŭ)

• Persian: خزه (fa) (xaze)
• Polish: mech (pl) m
• Portuguese: musgo (pt) m
• Romanian: mușchi (ro) n
• Romansch: mistgel m
• Russian: мох (ru) m (mox)
• Sanskrit: शैवल (sa) m (śaivala), शैवाल (sa) m (śaivāla)
• Sardinian: nuscu
• Scottish Gaelic: còinneach f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мах m, маховина f

  Roman: mah (sh) m, mahovina (sh) f

• Sichuan Yi: ꒊꂱ (yyp mip)
• Sicilian: lippu (scn) m
• Slovak: mach m
• Slovene: mah (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: mech m

  Upper Sorbian: moch m

• Spanish: musgo (es) m
• Swedish: mossa (sv) c
• Tagalog: lumot
• Tajik: ушна (ušna)
• Tetum: lumut
• Thai: มอสส์ (mɔ́ɔt)
• Turkish: yosun (tr)
• Turkmen: moh
• Udi: мижов (mižov), мамыр (mamər)
• Udmurt: ӝуй (džuj)
• Ukrainian: мох m (mox)
• Urdu: کائی f (kā'ī)
• Uyghur: مۇخ (mux)
• Uzbek: yoʻsin (uz), mox (uz)
• Venetian: mus-cio (vec) m, muscio m, niscio
• Vietnamese: rêu (vi)
• Waray-Waray: lumot
• Welsh: mwsogl m
• West Frisian: moas n
• Westrobothnian: , ,
• Yiddish: מאָך m (mokh)

a kind or species of such plants

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 苔 (zh) (tāi), 蘚／藓 (zh) (xiǎn), 藓 (zh) (xiǎn)

• Dutch: mos (nl) n
• Esperanto: musko
• Estonian: samblik
• Finnish: sammalikko (fi)
• French: mousse (fr) f
• German: Moos (de) n
• Greek: βρύα (el) n pl (vrýa)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Macedonian: маховина f (mahovina)
• Portuguese: musgo (pt) m
• Spanish: musgo (es) m
• Swedish: mossa (sv) c
• Ukrainian: мох m (mox)
• Venetian: mus-cio (vec) m
• West Frisian: moas n

(informal) plant of seemingly simple structure

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

bog — see bog

Verb

moss (third-person singular simple present mosses, present participle mossing, simple past and past participle mossed)

1. (intransitive) To become covered with moss.

   An oak whose boughs were mossed with age.

2. (transitive) To cover (something) with moss.

Translations

to become covered with moss

• Estonian: sammalduma
• Finnish: sammaloitua (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: bemoosen (de)

cover (something) with moss

• German: bemoosen (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

See also

• muscoid

Further reading

• moss on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• A New English dictionary on historical principles, Volume 6, Sir James Augustus Henry Murray, Sir William Alexander Craigie, Charles Talbut Onions, editors, Clarendon Press, 1908, pages 684-6

Anagrams

• SMOS, SMOs, soms

---

Hungarian

Alternative forms

• mossál

Etymology

mos +‎ -j

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmoʃː]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: moss

Verb

moss

1. second-person singular subjunctive present indefinite of mos

   Moss fogat! ― Brush your teeth! (literally, “Wash tooth!”)

Usage notes

Not to be confused with mos (“to wash”).