mask
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
4 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "mask", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "mask" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "mask" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
mask is aEnglishnoun. It means: A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for disguise or protection. Pronounced /mɑːsk/. It ranks #4,251 in English word frequency. Often confused with MS and MK.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | mask |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /mɑːsk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #4,251 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for mask is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /mɑːsk/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,251 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for mask, with forms such as "amsk", "maks", and "maskk". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "MS", "MK", "may", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Middle French masque (“a covering to hide or protect the face”), from Italian maschera (“mask, disguise”), from (a byform of, see it for more) Medieval Latin masca, mascha, a borrowing of Proto-West Germanic *maskā, from which English mesh and… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is mask, spelled M-A-S-K, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for disguise or protection.
- 2That which disguises; a pretext or subterfuge.
- 3Appearance, likeness.
- 4A festive entertainment of dancing or other diversions, where all wear masks; a masquerade.
- 5A person wearing a mask.
- 6A dramatic performance in which the actors wore masks and represented mythical or allegorical characters.
- 7A grotesque head or face, used to adorn keystones and other prominent parts, to spout water in fountains, and the like.
- 8In a permanent fortification, a redoubt which protects the caponiere.
- 9A screen for a battery.
- 10The lower lip of the larva of a dragonfly, modified so as to form a prehensile organ.
- 11A flat covering used to block off an unwanted portion of a scene or image.
- 12A pattern of bits used in bitwise operations; bitmask.
- 13A two-color (black and white) bitmap generated from an image, used to create transparency in the image.
- 14The head of a fox, shown face-on and cut off immediately behind the ears.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French masque (“a covering to hide or protect the face”), from Italian maschera (“mask, disguise”), from (a byform of, see it for more) Medieval Latin masca, mascha, a borrowing of Proto-West Germanic *maskā, from which English mesh and mask (“mesh”) (below at Etymology 2) are inherited. Doublet of masque and mesh. Replaced Old English grīma (“mask”), whence grime, and displaced non-native Middle English viser (“visor, mask”) borrowed from Old French viser, visier.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: amsk,maks,maskk,massk,mmask,msak
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for mask
Misspelling Variants of "mask"
Frequency rank: #4,251 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "mask"?
What does "mask" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "mask"?
How do you pronounce "mask"?
What is the origin of the word "mask"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter M in our English index: