moustache

English

Man with moustache

Alternative forms

• moustaches
• mustache, mustaches

Etymology

Used in English since the 16th century. Via French moustache from Italian mostaccio, from Byzantine Greek μουστάκιον (moustákion), diminutive of (Doric) Ancient Greek μύσταξ (mústax, “upper lip”), from Proto-Indo-European *mendʰ- (“to chew”). Replaced native English kemp (“moustache”), from Old English cenep (“moustache”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /məˈstɑːʃ/, Rhymes: -ɑːʃ
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌstæʃ/, /məˈstæʃ/, Rhymes: -æʃ

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /məˈstɑːʃ/, Rhymes: -ɑːʃ
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /məˈstɐːʃ/, Rhymes: -ɐːʃ

Noun

moustache (plural moustaches)

1. a growth of facial hair between the nose and the upper lip
   • 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:

     “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; […]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.

   • 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 555:

     Crabbe caught the eye of the oboist, an ancient man with dignified moustaches, and mimed that they were going round to the front, to watch the real thing, the shadows.

   For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:moustache.

   Coordinate terms: beard, sideburn, sideboard, whisker

Usage notes

The plural forms moustaches and mustaches were formerly popular equivalent terms for the facial hair on the lip of one man, but these uses are now archaic with the singular now preferred.

Derived terms

• cavalry moustache
• Fu Manchu moustache
• handlebar moustache
• horseshoe moustache
• molestache
• philtrum moustache
• stache, 'stache
• tache, 'tache
• toothbrush moustache
• walrus moustache

 

Translations

hair on upper lip

• Abkhaz: аԥаҵа (āpāc̣ā)
• Adyghe: пакӏэхэр (pāč̣̍ăxăr)
• Albanian: mustaqe (sq) f
• Arabic: شَارِب‎ m (šārib)

  Egyptian Arabic: شنب‎ m (šanab)

  Hijazi Arabic: شَنَب‎ m (šanab)

  Moroccan Arabic: شلغوم‎ (šalḡūm)

• Aragonese: mostaixa f
• Aramaic: ܦܣܡܐ‎
• Armenian: բեղ (hy) (beł)
• Aromanian: mustatsã f
• Asturian: bigote (ast) m
• Avar: михъал (miq̄al)
• Azerbaijani: bığ (az)
• Banjarese: sasingut
• Bashkir: мыйыҡ (mïyïq)
• Basque: bibote
• Bau Bidayuh: sumiet
• Belarusian: вусы́ pl (vusý)
• Bengali: গোঁফ (gõphô)
• Breton: mourroù (br)
• Brunei Malay: sumit, kumis
• Bulgarian: муста́к (bg) m (musták)
• Burmese: ကျင်စွယ် (my) (kyangcwai)
• Catalan: bigoti (ca), mostatxo m
• Central Melanau: sumih, gumei
• Chechen: мекхаш (meqaš), мекхаш pl (meqaš)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 鬚, 须 (sou¹)

  Mandarin: 鬍子 (zh), 胡子 (zh) (húzi), 髭 (zh) (zī), 八字鬍 (zh) (bāzìhú)

• Cornish: minvlew
• Czech: knír (cs) m
• Danish: overskæg (da) n
• Dhivehi: މަތިމަސް‎ (dv) (matimas)
• Dutch: snor (nl) f
• Esperanto: lipharoj (eo) pl, liphararo
• Estonian: vurrud pl, vuntsid
• Finnish: viikset (fi) pl, viiksi- (fi) (in compounds)
• French: moustache (fr) f, bacchante (fr) f, (slang) charmeuses (fr) f pl
• Galician: bigote (gl) m, bigode m, mostacho m, grañón m
• Georgian: ულვაში (ulvaši), ულვაშები (ulvašebi)
• German: Schnurrbart (de) m, Oberlippenbart (de) m
• Greek: μουστάκι (el) n (moustáki)

  Ancient: μύσταξ m (mústax), ὑπήνη f (hupḗnē)

• Guaraní: vigóte
• Gujarati: મુછ (gu) (much)
• Haitian Creole: moustach
• Hebrew: שָׂפָם‎ (he) m (safam)
• Hindi: मूँछ (hi) f (mū̃ch), मूछ f (mūch)
• Hungarian: bajusz (hu)
• Hunsrik: Schnorres m
• Icelandic: yfirvaraskegg n, yfirskegg n, (slang) motta (is) f
• Ido: mustacho, labiobarbo (io)
• Indonesian: kumis (id)
• Irish: croiméal (ga) m
• Isthmus Zapotec: guicha ruaa
• Italian: baffi (it) m pl
• Japanese: 口ひげ (くちひげ, kuchihige), 口髭 (くちひげ, kuchihige)
• Javanese: brengos (jv)
• Kabardian: пащӏэ (pāṣ̂ă)
• Kazakh: мұрт (kk) (murt)
• Khmer: ពុកមាត់ (km) (puk mŏət)
• Korean: 콧수염 (ko) (kotsuyeom), 수염 (ko) (suyeom)
• Kurdish: simbêl (ku)
• Kyrgyz: мурут (ky) (murut)
• Lak: ссирссилтту (s̄irs̄ilt̄u)
• Lao: ມັດສຸ (mat su) (moustache or beard)

• Latin: (neologism) mystax m, mustāceus m, subium n
• Latvian: ūsas (lv) f pl
• Laz: ბუჲუღი (buyuɣi)
• Lezgi: спел (spel)
• Lithuanian: ūsai m pl
• Lombard: barbis m
• Macedonian: му́стаќ m (mústaḱ), му́стаќи pl (mústaḱi)
• Malay: misai, kumis
• Malayalam: മീശ (ml) (mīśa)
• Maltese: mustaċċi m
• Maori: hurungutu
• Marathi: मिशी (miśī)
• Mongolian: живэр сахал (mn) (živer sahal)
• Navajo: dághá
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bart (no) m, barter m pl, mustasje m

  Nynorsk: bart m, bartar m pl, mustasje m

• Old English: cenep m
• Ossetian: рихитӕ (rixitæ)
• Pashto: برېت‎ (ps) m pl (bret)
• Persian: بروت‎ (fa) (borut), سبیل‎ (fa) (sebil)
• Polish: wąsy m pl
• Portuguese: bigode (pt) m
• Romanian: mustață (ro) f
• Russian: ус (ru) m (us), (usually plural) усы́ (ru) m pl (usý)
• Sanskrit: श्मश्रु (sa) (śmaśru)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: mustatzus

  Logudorese: mustatzus

• Scots: mouser, moutash
• Scottish Gaelic: mustais f, stais f, balt m, feusag-bheòil f, ròibeag f, réibean m, ròibean m, caisean-feusaig m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бр̑к m, бр̏кови m pl, на̀уснице f pl

  Roman: bȓk (sh) m, bȑkovi (sh) m pl, nàusnice (sh) f pl

• Sicilian: mustazzu (scn) m, mustazzi (scn) m pl, baffi m pl
• Slovak: fúzy m pl, fúz (sk) m
• Slovene: brki (sl) m pl
• Somali: shaarbo
• Spanish: bigote (es) m, mostacho (es) m
• Swahili: masharubu pl
• Swedish: mustasch (sv) c
• Tagalog: misay, bigote (tl)
• Tajik: мӯйлаб (müylab), бурут (burut)
• Tamil: மீசை (ta) (mīcai)
• Tatar: мыек (tt) (mıyek)
• Telugu: మీసం (te) (mīsaṃ)
• Thai: มัสสุ (th) (mát-sù), ทาฐิกะ (taa-tì-gà), หนวด (th) (nùuat)
• Tibetan: ཁ་སྤུ (kha spu), སྨ་ར (sma ra), འ་ར ('a ra)
• Turkish: bıyık (tr)
• Turkmen: murt
• Tuvan: сал (sal)
• Udi: быгъ (bəɣ), бигъ (biɣ)
• Ukrainian: ву́са pl (vúsa), ву́си pl (vúsy)
• Urdu: مونچھ‎ f (mūñch)
• Uyghur: بۇرۇت‎ (burut)
• Uzbek: moʻylab (uz), burut (uz)
• Veps: habinod
• Vietnamese: râu mép (vi), ria mép, ria (vi)
• Volapük: mustag
• Walloon: moustatche (wa)
• Welsh: trawswch m, mwstas (cy) m
• White Hmong: hwj-txwv
• Yiddish: וואָנצעס‎ (vontses)
• Zazaki: zımbêli

---

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Neapolitan mustaccio (compare Italian mostaccio), itself, possibly through an intermediate Late Latin *mustaceum, from Byzantine Greek μουστάκιον (moustákion), from Ancient Greek μύσταξ (mústax).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mus.taʃ/

• audio

  (file)

• Homophone: moustaches

Noun

moustache f (plural moustaches)

1. moustache, mustache
2. (often in plural) whisker (of a cat)

Derived terms

• moustachu

See also

• barbe f

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• mouchâtes
• touchâmes

---

Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from French moustache.

Noun

moustache f (plural moustaches)

1. (Jersey) moustache