Etymograph

English

mash

Mash comes from Proto-Germanic *maiskaz ‘mixture, mash’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *meyǵ- ‘to mix’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meyǵ-1‘to mix’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*maiskaz1‘mixture, mash’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150mǣsċ1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mash1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1609–1612mash1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English mash
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1609–1612, Francis Beaumont, The Captaine: “For your vows and oaths, Or I doubt mainly,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meyǵ-Wiktionary, English mash‘to mix’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*maiskazWiktionary, English mash‘mixture, mash’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150mǣsċWiktionary, English mash
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mashWiktionary, English mash
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1609–1612mashWiktionary, English mash. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1609–1612, Francis Beaumont, The Captaine: “For your vows and oaths, Or I doubt mainly,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *meyǵ- ‘to mix’

mix, 7 more

Another origin of mash

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*maiskijanąreconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150*māsċanreconstructed
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mashen
  4. Englishtodaymash

Today it means

noun A mass of mixed ingredients reduced to a soft pulpy state by beating or pressure; a mass of anything in a soft pulpy state.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “mash”. 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 *meyǵ- / mash

Shirt and support for this word