Word origins

• marquisetteA sheer cotton fabric used for mosquito nets and curtains
• MarrantA surname from French.
• marriage of convenienceA marriage motivated by some reason other than love; for example, one conducted to obtain residence rights in a country, for financial gain, or for political purposes.
• 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
• mashieA metal-headed golf club with a moderate loft, the equivalent of a five iron in a modern set of clubs.
• mashrabiyyaA balcony in North Africa enclosed with carved wooden latticework.
• massasaugaThe rattlesnake Sistrurus catenatus (formerly Crotalinus catenatus) in the family Viperidae, found in three subspecies.
• 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.
• massecuiteA suspension of sugar crystals in a mother liquor, after boiling of syrup; produced in a sugar factory.
• 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.
• master signifierA signifier, i.e. a linguistic sign, with no determinate content beyond itself, serving as a nodal point dominating and grounding the content of a chain of other signifiers.
• matelasséA heavy fabric, composed of two layers of cloth, used to form a quilted surface.
• 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.
• MatottA surname from French.
• matricideThe killing of one's mother.
• mattamoreAn underground storage place for grain.
• mattoirA kind of coarse punch with a rasp-like face, used for making a rough surface on etching ground, or on the naked copper, the effect after biting being very similar to stippled lines.
• MaubecA surname from French.
• MauriceauA French surname.
• 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 honteShyness, especially when affected; false modesty.
• mauvaise langueA tendency to gossip.
• mauvais quart d'heureA brief unpleasant period; a bad yet quick experience.
• mauvettea purple color similar to mauve
• mayoryThe mayor's office.
• mazagranA long cold coffee beverage with lemon, ice, and sometimes sugar, rum or water, served in a tall glass.
• mazarinadeA scurrilous anti-governmental pamphlet published in mid-seventeenth-century France.
• MazingarbeA city in Pas-de-Calais department, France.
• MbappeA surname
• m.d.Medicinae Doctor (Latin): Doctor of Medicine.
• mechouiA Maghrebi dish consisting of meat from a whole sheep or lamb spit-roasted on a barbecue.
• medaillonSynonym of medallion.
• mediatizeTo make (a state or leader under the Holy Roman Empire) into a mediate vassal rather than an immediate one, directly under the emperor; (by extension) to annex while preserving certain rights and titles.
• medicamentousHaving the properties of medicament; medicinal.
• medicasterA quack doctor; someone who pretends to have medical knowledge.
• 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.
• megalographA camera lucida that uses images from kaleidoscopes or microscopes
• megameterAn instrument for determining longitude by observation of the stars.
• Meganticoisa resident of Lac-Megantic, Quebec
• MeheutA surname from French.
• MeigeSynonym of Milroy's disease; Ellipsis of Miege's disease
• MeilletA surname from French.
• melancholizeTo make melancholy.
• melangeurA machine for grinding ingredients and mixing them when making chocolate (or rarely nut butter, etc), consisting of roller stones inside a drum.
• melanismCongenital abundance or excess of melanin pigmentation in the skin, hair, feathers and/or eyes, more than is typical for the species.
• melezitoseA non-reducing trisaccharide sugar produced by many insects that consume plant sap.
• 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.
• meliturgyBeekeeping; the preparation of honey.
• melo-Music.
• melodiumA type of reed organ, similar to a harmonium.
• melomaneSynonym of melomaniac.
• melomaniaAn abnormal love of music.
• 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 moiMasturbation or an act of masturbation, especially by a woman.
• ménage à quatreA household or relationship whereby four people live together as lovers.
• 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.
• mendoleA fish, Spicara maena, the cackerel.
• meniliteA greyish-brown form of opal.
• menologeSynonym of menologium, a monthly record, particularly in certain Christian contexts
• mensiversaryA day that marks an exact month (or specified number of months) since the occurrence of a significant event.
• mentalitéA person's feelings about the wider society and world they live in, and their place within it; a worldview, outlook.
• mentonnièreAn item of armor protecting the chin, often identified with or used interchangeably with the bevor.
• Merasheen IslandAn island of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
• merceryThe trade of mercers.
• merchandTo trade; to traffic.
• mercy bucketsThanks very much.
• Mer de GlaceA glacier above the Chamonix valley in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France.
• merelsnine men's morris
• mereseA flat, sharp-edged button, often a disc-shaped knob, separating the stem of a drinking-glass from the foot.
• merguezA red, spicy sausage from North Africa, made with lamb or beef.
• merideAn interval of pitch equal to 1/43 of an octave.
• méridienneAn asymmetrical daybed with a high head-rest, and a lower foot-rest, joined by a sloping piece.
• MérigonA village in Ariège department, France.
• meringue glacéice cream with a casing of meringue
• merlonAny of the upright projections between the embrasures of a battlement, originally for archers to shield behind while shooting arrows over the embrasures, or through loopholes in the merlons.
• merluceThe European hake.
• merogamyMerogony.
• -merousHaving parts of the specified quality.
• merroirThe complete set of local conditions in which seafood is raised. The total characteristics or phenotype of an organism due to attributes such as harvest and cultivation technique, salinity, tides, local food sources, seasonality, and climate.
• merveilleuseA fashionable young Frenchwoman of the late 18th-century, characterized by extravagant dress sense and anti-revolutionary ideas.
• merveilleuxContemporary names for an extravagantly dressed French fop or ‘fine lady’ of the period of the Directory (1795–1799), who affected a revival of the classical costume of Ancient Greece.
• mésallianceMarriage with a person of inferior social position.
• mesophyteAny normal terrestrial plant that grows in environments that have an average supply of water.