# mask

> English word · Noun · IPA /mɑːsk/ · frequency rank #4,251

## Definitions
1. A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for disguise or protection.
2. That which disguises; a pretext or subterfuge.
3. Appearance, likeness.
4. A festive entertainment of dancing or other diversions, where all wear masks; a masquerade.
5. A person wearing a mask.
6. A dramatic performance in which the actors wore masks and represented mythical or allegorical characters.
7. A grotesque head or face, used to adorn keystones and other prominent parts, to spout water in fountains, and the like.
8. In a permanent fortification, a redoubt which protects the caponiere.
9. A screen for a battery.
10. The lower lip of the larva of a dragonfly, modified so as to form a prehensile organ.
11. A flat covering used to block off an unwanted portion of a scene or image.
12. A pattern of bits used in bitwise operations; bitmask.
13. A two-color (black and white) bitmap generated from an image, used to create transparency in the image.
14. The 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.

## Easily confused with
- **MS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-ms)
- **MK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-mk)
- **may** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-may)
- **Mrs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-mrs)
- **max** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-max)
- **MPS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-mps)
- **mat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-mat)
- **MoS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-mos)
- **MSM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-msm)
- **MSG** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-msg)
- **MSP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-msp)
- **Mau** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-mau)
- **mes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-mes)
- **MSN** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-msn)
- **maw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-maw)
- **MCS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-mcs)
- **MLK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-mlk)
- **MMS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-mms)
- **MSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-msa)
- **MSI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mask-vs-msi)

## Common misspellings (6)
`amsk`, `maks`, `maskk`, `massk`, `mmask`, `msak`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/mask