Word origins

• magretThe breast meat of the mulard duck, known for its superior quality.
• MahéA small town in Mahé district in the union territory of Puducherry, India.
• MahoraisA person from Mayotte or of Mahoran descent.
• maigreMade without meat (and thus permitted to be eaten on a fast day).
• Maine-et-LoireA department of Pays de la Loire, France. Capital: Angers.
• maison de passeA low-class hotel where rooms are rented out by the hour, especially to prostitutes and their clients.
• maison de toléranceA licensed brothel.
• maître d'hôtelSynonym of maître d' (“headwaiter”).
• maîtresse en titreAn open or official mistress.
• majorantA function, or an element of a set, that dominates others or is greater than all others.
• majoratprimogeniture
• majusculeA capital letter, especially one used in ancient manuscripts.
• maladifSickly.
• maladioussickly
• mal de merseasickness
• mal du payshomesickness
• mal du siècleApathy and world-weariness, involving pessimism towards the current state of the world, often along with nostalgia for the past, originally in the context of French Romanticism; Weltschmerz.
• mal du SuisseNostalgia or homesickness.
• malfeasantOf or relating to malfeasance or misconduct.
• malgré luiContrary to their desires or ambitions.
• malingerTo feign illness, injury, or incapacitation in order to avoid work, obligation, or perilous risk.
• MalingreA surname from French.
• MalouinesFalkland Islands.
• Maltese sauceHollandaise sauce with blanched orange zest and the juice of blood orange.
• mamelièreA circular armor plate (of metal, leather, etc) worn over the breast of a fighter to hold chains to which the sword, dagger, or helmet could be attached, so as to be recoverable if knocked from the fighter.
• mamelonA hillock; a rounded elevation or protuberance.
• mammisia subsidiary chapel in Ancient Egypt attached to a larger temple and associated with the nativity of a god
• mamuquebird of paradise
• -maneForming compound nouns with the sense of person who has a mania for.
• manègeThe art of training and riding horses; dressage.
• ManevalA surname from French.
• manfraA French comic (bande dessinée) inspired by Japanese manga.
• mangetoutA vegetable pea (Pisum sativum) eaten when immature.
• mangousteA mongoose.
• manifestantA protester; someone participating in a protest.
• manquéUnfulfilled due to the vagary of circumstance, some inherent flaw or a constitutional lack.
• manteauA cloak or gown, especially of a kind popular with women in the 17th and 18th centuries.
• manutergeA towel used by a priest during liturgy.
• maquisardA member of a resistance or guerrilla movement, originally and chiefly that of the French during the German occupation of 1940-5.
• maraudTo move about in roving fashion looking for plunder; to loiter.
• MarcadeA surname from French.
• MarcadetA surname from French.
• marcassinA young wild boar.
• MarcellineA female given name from French.
• MarcetteA female given name from French.
• MarchessaultA surname from French.
• MarciacA commune and town in the French department of Gers, administrative region of Occitania, France.
• mardi grasThe day when traditionally all fat and meat in the house were finished up, before Christians were banned from eating them during Lent, which commenced the following day on Ash Wednesday.
• maréchausséeA type of guard force in France, French colonies, or sometimes by extension other places, commanded by a marshal (formerly used as a police force before the introduction of the gendarmerie); loosely (chiefly humorous), the police, the constabulary.
• margelineA type of herb referred to by Pliny as "asyla"; potentially chickweed or ivy-leaved speedwell.
• mari complaisantA husband who tolerates his spouse's adultery.
• Marie-GalanteAn island in the archipelago of Guadeloupe.
• MarievalA hamlet in Cowessess, Saskatchewan, Canada.
• MarioteOf or relating to Mari.
• marotteA jester's dummy, bauble, or sceptre.
• marouflageA technique for affixing a painted canvas to a wall to be used as a mural, using an adhesive that hardens as it dries, such as plaster or cement.
• MarrantA surname from French.
• marron glacéA chestnut preserved in sugar or syrup and flavoured with vanilla.
• MarseillaisOf, from or relating to the city of Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.
• marteléA percussive bow stroke, usually produced by holding the bow against the string with pressure, then releasing it explosively to produce a sharp, biting attack with a rest between strokes.
• mascaronA carved, ornamental face, either human-like or grotesque, whose alleged function was originally to frighten away evil spirits so that they would not enter the building.
• MaschinoA surname from French.
• masconA region within a solid astronomical body that is of higher density than the surrounding material.
• MascoucheA city, a suburb of Montreal in Lanaudière, Quebec, Canada
• mashrabiyyaA balcony in North Africa enclosed with carved wooden latticework.
• MassatA village and commune of Ariège department, Occitania, France.
• masséA stroke made with the cue held vertically that causes a billiard ball to move in an arc.
• massicRelating to mass.
• massicotlead monoxide, PbO, obtained as a yellow amorphous powder, the fused and crystalline form of which is called litharge; lead ocher. It is used as a pigment; also, lead oxide yellow, as opposed to red lead, which is lead tetroxide Pb₃O₄.
• matelotageA social practice of same-sex civil union among seafarers in the 17th and 18th centuries.
• mateloteA stew made primarily with fish and wine.
• MathaisA surname from French.
• matinalIn the morning, relating to the morning.
• matricideThe killing of one's mother.
• MaubecA surname from French.
• MaurrassianOf or relating to Charles Maurras (1868–1952), French writer, critic, and leader of Action Française, a political movement that was monarchist, anti-parliamentarist, and counter-revolutionary.
• mauvaise langueA tendency to gossip.
• mauvais quart d'heureA brief unpleasant period; a bad yet quick experience.
• mauvettea purple color similar to mauve
• mazagranA long cold coffee beverage with lemon, ice, and sometimes sugar, rum or water, served in a tall glass.
• MazingarbeA city in Pas-de-Calais department, France.
• MbappeA surname
• mechouiA Maghrebi dish consisting of meat from a whole sheep or lamb spit-roasted on a barbecue.
• medaillonSynonym of medallion.
• medicamentousHaving the properties of medicament; medicinal.
• mediologyAn interdisciplinary approach to the study of culture, created by Régis Debray in 1979, that pays specific attention to human symbolic activity and to technology, especially as a medium of cultural transmission.
• MeheutA surname from French.
• MeigeSynonym of Milroy's disease; Ellipsis of Miege's disease
• MélièsA surname from French, usually applying to Georges Méliès.
• melineHaving the qualities of or relating to a badger.
• meliniteA yellow clay mineral from Bavaria.
• melitoseSynonym of raffinose.
• melo-Music.
• melodiumA type of reed organ, similar to a harmonium.
• melomaneSynonym of melomaniac.
• melongeneAn aubergine; an eggplant.
• melophoneAny of various kinds of accordion, especially a handheld free reed instrument of 19th-century France.
• ménageA household; a domestic situation.
• ménage à troisA household or relationship whereby three people live together as lovers.
• mendiantA traditional French Christmas confection, a chocolate disc studded with nuts and dried fruits representing the various mendicant monastic orders.