Mass

Mass

Noun / Adjective / Verb · /mæs/

Definition

(Noun) a large quantity or amount of matter; the property of a body that is a measure of its inertia and determines its response to force; a large number of people gathered together; the Eucharistic service in the Roman Catholic Church and some Anglican churches; (Adjective) involving or affecting large numbers of people; (Verb) to gather into a mass or large group.

Origin

The religious sense comes from Latin missa (dismissal, the Mass), past participle of mittere (to send, to dismiss) — from the closing words of the Latin service 'Ite, missa est' (Go, you are dismissed). The matter/physics sense comes from Latin massa (lump, dough), from Greek maza (barley cake, lump of dough). The two meanings — religious service and physical quantity — are etymologically distinct words that share a spelling.