The story
- Ancient Greek · derived fromμαστίχη
- Latin · derived frommastiche
- Old French · derived frommastic
- Middle English · inherited frommastik
- English todaymastic
From Middle English mastik, from Old French mastic, from Latin mastiche, from Ancient Greek μαστίχη (mastíkhē), from μαστιχάω (mastikháō, “to chew”) (note the chewing gum sense). Related to masticate. The broad sense for cements came via extension from predecessor cements made with the tree's resin. Doublet of mastika.
Words from the same roots
Ancient Greekμαστίχη all →
Mastichochoriamastika
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.