Translation
mass (in physics)
Word origin
From Latin massa, a lump of kneaded dough, from Greek maza, a barley cake, from massein, to knead. Physics took the most abstract quantity in its toolkit and named it after bread.
- Origin
- Latin
- Root
- massa
- English cognates
- mass, massive, amass
Examples
.
The mass of the stone is two kilogrammes.
.
The sun has a large mass.
?
What does mass mean in physics?
is the physics word and only the physics word: the quantity of matter in a body, measured in kilogrammes, the thing that stays the same when you carry an object to the moon and its weight does not.
The trap is , one letter away at rank 512, and it means something else entirely. An is a heap, a pile or a crowd, and it is what you want for a mass of people, a mass of paperwork or a mass of cloud. is the majority, the greater part, and it is what you want when English says the mass of the population. Reach for only when a scientist would.
The etymology is a pleasure. Latin massa was a lump of kneaded dough, from Greek maza, a barley cake, from massein, to knead. Physics reached for a name for its most abstract quantity and came back with bread. English amass and massive are the same root arriving by a slower route.
For units, element names and the rest of the scientific register, see Esperanto for science.
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maso: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "maso" (mass (in physics)): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 48.