massa

Meaning

1. (declension-1, feminine) mass, bulk (of material)
2. (declension-1, feminine) load, burden
3. (declension-1, feminine) dough
4. (declension-1, feminine) lump

Concepts

mass

accumulation

pile

crowd

multitude

heap

swarm

body

dough

lump

piece

sledgehammer

lot

batter

bit

chip

crush

host

part

mallet

mass of people

pastry

Synonyms

multitudo

turba

glaeba

mōlēs

offa

materia

farina

materies

Translations

massa

Masse

massa

masa

Haufen

massa

Menge

masse

Stapel

cúmulo

multitud

folla

drom

hoop

Pronounced as (IPA)

[ˈmas.sa]

Etymology

An early borrowing from Ancient Greek μᾶζα (mâza, “bread”), possibly via Etruscan. It is uncertain whether the long /aː/ was carried over. Early Latin regularly rendered the Greek sound represented by ⟨ζ⟩ as /ss/; compare patrissō. In Imperial times, when Greek borrowings were entering Latin with ⟨z⟩, the old massa remained, never replaced by *māza.