MAC address

noun

Media Access Control address; a unique identifying number assigned to most network devices.

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Meanings

nounMAC address (plural MAC addresses)

plural MAC addresses

  1. computingMedia Access Control address; a unique identifying number assigned to most network devices.

    MAC addresses are learned by the source MAC address on incoming frames to the switch, not the destination frames.

    2020, Jon Buhagiar, CCNA Certification Practice Tests: Exam 200-301, Wiley, →ISBN, page 258
    2 more examples

    The MAC address substitution module then substitutes the source MAC address and the destination MAC address of the packet before it is forwarded into the interface port. The source MAC address is replaced by that of the output interface, and the destination MAC address is replaced by that of the immediate next hop (a router or the destination host).

    1999, Nen-Fu Huang, Shi-Ming Zhao, Jen-Yi Pan, Chi-An Su, “A Fast IP Routing Lookup Scheme for Gigabit Switching Routers”, in IEEE INFOCOM '99. Conference on Computer Communications. Proceedings. Eighteenth Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies. The Future is Now (Cat. No.99CH36320), volume 3, →DOI, page 1430

    Our analysis illustrates that MAC address randomization policies are neither universally implemented nor effective at eliminating privacy concerns.

    2017, Jeremy Martin et al., “A Study of MAC Address Randomization in Mobile Devices and When it Fails”, in Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies, volume 2017, number 4, →DOI, page 379

Translations

Catalan adreça MAC
  • adreça MACMedia Access Control address
Chinese Cantonese MAC地址, 媒體存取控制地址 /媒体存取控制地址
  • MAC地址 (mek¹ dei⁶ zi²)Media Access Control address
  • 媒體存取控制地址 /媒体存取控制地址 (mui⁴ tai² cyun⁴ ceoi² hung³ zai³ dei⁶ zi²)Media Access Control address
Chinese Mandarin MAC地址, 媒體存取控制地址 /媒体存取控制地址
  • MAC地址 (māk dìzhǐ)Media Access Control address
  • 媒體存取控制地址 /媒体存取控制地址 (méitǐ cúnqǔ kòngzhì dìzhǐ)Media Access Control address
  • MAC位址 (māk wèizhǐ)Media Access Control address
  • 媒體存取控制位址 /媒体存取控制位址 (méitǐ cúnqǔ kòngzhì wèizhǐ)Media Access Control address
Esperanto MAC-adreso
  • MAC-adresoMedia Access Control address
Estonian MAC-aadress
  • MAC-aadressMedia Access Control address
Finnish MAC-osoite
  • MAC-osoiteMedia Access Control address
French adresse MAC
  • adresse MACMedia Access Control address
German MAC-Adresse
  • MAC-AdresseMedia Access Control address
Indonesian alamat kendali akses media
  • alamat kendali akses mediaMedia Access Control address
Italian indirizzo MAC
  • indirizzo MACMedia Access Control address
Japanese MACアドレス
  • MACアドレスMedia Access Control address
Korean MAC 주소
  • MAC 주소 (MAC juso)Media Access Control address
Polish adres MAC
  • adres MACMedia Access Control address
Portuguese endereço MAC
  • endereço MACMedia Access Control address
Spanish dirección MAC
  • dirección MACMedia Access Control address
Vietnamese địa chỉ điều khiển truy cập thiết bị, địa chỉ truy cập thiết bị
  • địa chỉ điều khiển truy cập thiết bịMedia Access Control address
  • địa chỉ truy cập thiết bịMedia Access Control address
Cite this entry
APA

MAC address. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/MAC%20address

MLA

“MAC address.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/MAC%20address. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “MAC address,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/MAC%20address.

Source: MAC address on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.