Meanings
mensa1
- CatholicismThe upper surface of an altar.
Some churches also have an altar stone, a separate stone set into the mensa containing a relic of a saint, although this is becoming extremely rare.
1993, B. Don Taylor, The Complete Training Course for Altar Guilds, →ISBN, page 32
Mensa2
- Mensa International, an organization for people with very high IQs.
Mensa3
- astronomyA summer constellation of the southern sky, originally named after Table Mountain in South Africa. It lies between the constellations of Hydrus and Volans.
Origin
mensa · noun
- Latinmēnsa“table, altar”
- Englishmensa
Learned borrowing from Latin mēnsa (“table, altar”). Doublet of mesa.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Mensa · proper noun
- Latinmensa“table”
- EnglishMensa
From Latin mensa (“table”). The organization promotes itself as a "round-table" society in which differences in the backgrounds of its members are considered irrelevant.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Mensa · proper noun
From Mons Mensae (mensa (“table”)), from Montagne de la Table. Originally named Montagne de la Table after Table Mountain in South Africa in 1756 by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. By 1763 this had been Latinised as Mons Mensae. In 1922 the International Astronomical Union shortened this to Mensa.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 山案座
- 山案座 (Shān'ànzuò)constellation
Danish Taffelbjerget
- Taffelbjergetconstellation
Dutch Tafelberg
- Tafelbergconstellation
Esperanto Tablomonto
- Tablomontoconstellation
Finnish Pöytä
- Pöytäconstellation
French Table
- Tableconstellation
German Tafelberg
- Tafelbergconstellation
Irish an Tábla
- an Táblaconstellation
Malay Gunung Datar
- Gunung Datarconstellation
Norwegian Bordet
- Bordetconstellation
Polish Stół
- Stółconstellation
Russian Столо́вая Гора́
- Столо́вая Гора́ (Stolóvaja Gorá)constellation
Spanish Mensa
- Mensaconstellation
Swedish Taffelberget
- Taffelbergetconstellation
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with mensa
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
mensa. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mensa
“mensa.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mensa. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mensa,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mensa.
Source: mensa on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.