mustache

English

Alternative forms

• (Commonwealth English) moustache

Etymology

From 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”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌstæʃ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmʊstɑːʃ/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

mustache ‎(plural mustaches)

1. A growth of facial hair between the nose and the upper lip.
   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 29686887 , chapter IV:

     “My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”

See also

• mustachio

Derived terms

Derived terms

Charlie Chaplin mustache Fu Manchu mustache handlebar mustache Hitler mustache molestache

mustache ride stache, 'stache tache, 'tache toothbrush mustache Zapata mustache

Translations

moustache — see moustache

See also

• beard
• sideburn, sideboard
• whisker