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 Ancient 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 (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), 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.

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

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

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)

• 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 (goṁph)
• Breton: mourroù (br)
• 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: lipharo (eo)
• 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, mostacho m
• Georgian: ულვაში (ulvaši), ულვაშები (ulvašebi)
• German: Schnurrbart (de) m, Oberlippenbart (de) m
• Greek: μουστάκι (el) n (moustáki)
• 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)
• Icelandic: yfirvaraskegg n, yfirskegg n, (slang) motta (is) f
• Ido: mustacho, labiobarbo (io)
• Indonesian: kumis (id)
• Irish: croiméal 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 moat)
• 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, mustaceus 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
• 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) (sebîl)
• 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: brk (sh) m, brkovi (sh) m pl, nausnice (sh) f pl, брк m, бркови m pl, науснице f pl
• Sicilian: mustazzu (scn) m, mustazzi (scn) m pl, baffi m pl
• Slovak: fúzy m pl, fúz 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)
• Telugu: మీసం (te) (mīsaṃ)
• Thai: มัสสุ (mát-sù), ทาฐิกะ (taa-tì-gà)
• Tibetan: ཁ་སྤུ (kha spu), སྨ་ར (sma 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)
• Uzbek: moʻylab (uz)
• Veps: habinod
• Vietnamese: râu mép (vi)
• Volapük: mustag
• Walloon: moustatche (wa)
• Welsh: trawswch m, mwstas (cy) m
• White Hmong: hwj-txwv
• Yiddish: וואָנצעס‎‎ (vontses)
• Zazaki: zımbêli

Coordinate terms

• beard
• sideburn, sideboard
• whisker

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French

Etymology

Borrowing 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)

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 le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• mouchâtes
• touchâmes

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Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from French moustache.

Noun

moustache f (plural moustaches)

1. (Jersey) moustache