Etymology

massage

M3A1S1S1A1G2E1

Today it means: The action of rubbing, kneading or hitting someone's body, to help the person relax, prepare for muscular action (as in contact sports) or to relieve aches. Full definition →

French massage ← Arabic مَسَّ ← Portuguese amassar
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Portuguese · borrowed fromamassar
  2. Arabic · derived fromمَسَّ“feel, touch”
  3. French · borrowed frommassage
  4. English todaymassage

From French massage (noun), from masser (“to massage”) (borrowed around the end of the 18th century from Arabic مَسَّ (massa, “feel, touch”), or from Portuguese amassar) + -age. Cognate to German massieren.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.