Etymograph

English

mascle

Mascle comes from Medieval Latin masculus ‘male, masculine’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *méryos ‘young man’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*méryos1‘young man’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmās2‘male’
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500masculus3as mascula‘male, masculine’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500maskel3
  5. Englishtodaymascle3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin mas
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin masculus
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English mascle

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*méryosWiktionary, Latin mas‘young man’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmāsWiktionary, Latin masculus‘male’
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500masculusWiktionary, English mascleas mascula‘male, masculine’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500maskelWiktionary, English mascle
  5. EnglishtodaymascleWiktionary, English mascle

Linked words

through Latin mās ‘male’

married, marriage, marry, marital, 7 more

through Medieval Latin masculus ‘male, masculine’

male, masculine, macho, masculinity, machismo, 2 more

Today it means

noun A lozenge-shaped piece of metal, used in making scale mail.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “mascle”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin mas, Latin masculus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *méryos / mascle

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