mascot

What it means

1. Something thought to bring good luck.

   I keep this red stone as a lucky mascot and always put it on my desk in exams.

2. Something, especially a person or animal, used to symbolize a sports team, company, organization or other group.

   Tommy the Tyke is the mascot of Barnsley FC.

3. A person engaged by an organization to portray its mascot in costume.

   He's been working as a mascot at local hockey games.

In a sentence

I keep this red stone as a lucky mascot and always put it on my desk in exams.

Where it comes from

1. Medieval Latinmasca“specter, nightmare”
2. Old Occitanmasca
3. Occitanmascòta“sortilege”
4. Frenchmascotte
5. Englishmascot

Borrowed from French mascotte, from Occitan mascòta (“sortilege”), feminine diminutive of masca (“witch”), from Old Occitan masca, from Medieval Latin masca (“specter, nightmare”). More at mask.