Meanings
nounmassage (countable and uncountable, plural massages)
plural massages
- countableuncountableThe action of rubbing, kneading or hitting someone's body, to help the person relax, prepare for muscular action (as in contact sports) or to relieve aches.
Having a massage can have many beneficial effects.
1 more example
During the long lapses in work common with on-location productions, Marilyn would silently meditate as Roberts provided a shoulder massage.
2014, Gary Vitacco-Robles, Icon: The Life, Times and Films of Marilyn Monroe Volume 2 1956-1962 AND Beyond - countableuncountableThe action of rubbing or kneading anything.
The baker gave the dough one final massage.
verbmassage (third-person singular simple present massages, present participle massaging, simple past and past participle massaged)
present singular third person massages · participle present massaging · participle past massaged · past massaged
- transitiveTo rub and knead (someone's body or body part), to perform a massage on (somebody).
My neck doesn't hurt as much as it did last night since my wife massaged me after I got back from the concert.
1 more example
So after massaging a nude woman while being nude or nearly nude myself, sex is a natural way to end things.
2010 January 11, Julian Kaye, Massage Therapy - transitiveTo rub or knead anything.
Massage the kale to soften it before making the salad.
- transitiveTo manipulate (data, a document etc.) to make it more presentable or more convenient to work with.
News relating to public disturbances was systematically massaged [...].
2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 1181 more example
The Conservatives have massaged expectations down by saying they would be delighted with a majority of 1,000 […]
2008 May 22, Patrick Wintour, Steven Morris, The Guardian, page 3 - transitiveTo falsify (data or accounts).
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo manipulate (data, a document etc.) to make it more presentable or more convenient to work with.
Narrower
Thai massage
More synonyms by meaning
verbmanually manipulate (someone's body), usually for medicinal or relaxation purposes
Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Portugueseamassar
- Arabicمَسَّ“feel, touch”
- Frenchmassage
- Englishmassage
From French massage (noun), from masser (“to massage”) (borrowed around the end of the 18th century from Arabic مَسَّ (massa, “feel, touch”), or from Portuguese amassar) + -age. Cognate to German massieren.
More words from French, Arabic, Portuguese
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek μάλαξις
- μάλαξις (málaxis)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
Arabic تَدْلِيك, تَمْسِيد
- تَدْلِيك (tadlīk)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- تَمْسِيد (tamsīd)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- مَسَاج (masāj)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- دَلَّكَ (dallaka)to perform a massage on somebody
- مَسَّدَ (massada)to perform a massage on somebody
Bengali ম্যাসেজ
- ম্যাসেজ (mêśej)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
Bulgarian маса́ж, масажирам
- маса́ж (masáž)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- масажирам (masažiram)to perform a massage on somebody
Catalan massatge
- massatgerubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
Chinese Cantonese 按摩, 𢱕骨
- 按摩 (on³ mo¹)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- 𢱕骨 (dap⁶ gwat¹)to perform a massage on somebody
Chinese Mandarin 按摩, 馬殺雞 /马杀鸡
- 按摩 (ànmó)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- 馬殺雞 /马杀鸡 (mǎshājī)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- 按摩 (ànmó)to perform a massage on somebody
- 調整 /调整 (tiáozhěng)to manipulate data or a document
- 篡改 (cuàngǎi)to falsify data or accounts
Czech masáž, masírovat
- masážrubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- masírovatto perform a massage on somebody
Danish massage
- massagerubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
Dutch massage, masseren
- massagerubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- masserento perform a massage on somebody
- manipulerento manipulate data or a document
- vervalsento falsify data or accounts
Esperanto masaĝo, masaĝi
- masaĝorubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- masaĝito perform a massage on somebody
Estonian masseerimine, massaaž
- masseeriminerubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- massaažrubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- masseerimato perform a massage on somebody
Finnish hieronta, hieroa
- hierontarubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- hieroato perform a massage on somebody
French massage, masser
- massagerubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- masserto perform a massage on somebody
German Massage, massieren
- Massagerubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- massierento perform a massage on somebody
- schönento manipulate data or a document
Greek μάλαξη, μασάζ
- μάλαξη (málaxi)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- μασάζ (masáz)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- μαλάσσω (malásso)to perform a massage on somebody
Hebrew עִסוּי, עיסוי
- עִסוּיrubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- עיסוי (isúy)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- מָסָז׳ (masázh)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- עיסהto perform a massage on somebody
- עִסָּה (isá)to perform a massage on somebody
- מיסז׳to perform a massage on somebody
- מִסֵּז׳ (misézh)to perform a massage on somebody
Hindi मालिश, अंगमर्दन
- मालिश (māliś)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- अंगमर्दन (aṅgmardan)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- मसाज (masāj)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
Hungarian masszázs, masszíroz
- masszázsrubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- masszírozto perform a massage on somebody
- kozmetikázto manipulate data or a document
Icelandic nudd
- nuddrubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
Indonesian pijat, urut
- pijatrubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- urutrubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
Irish suathaireacht
- suathaireachtrubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
Italian massaggio
- massaggiorubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
Japanese マッサージ, 按摩
- マッサージ (massāji)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- 按摩 (anma)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- マッサージする (massāji suru)to perform a massage on somebody
Korean 마사지, 안마
- 마사지 (masaji)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- 안마 (anma)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- 마사지하다 (masajihada)to perform a massage on somebody
Latin frictio, frīcō
- frictiorubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- frīcōto perform a massage on somebody
Latvian masāža
- masāžarubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
Lithuanian masažas
- masažasrubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
Malay urut, urut
- urutrubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- urutto perform a massage on somebody
Māori mirimiri, kōmuru
- mirimirito perform a massage on somebody
- kōmuruto perform a massage on somebody
- kōmurumuruto perform a massage on somebody
Norwegian Bokmål massasje
- massasjerubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
Polish masaż, masować
- masażrubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- masowaćto perform a massage on somebody
Portuguese massagem, massagear
- massagemrubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- massagearto perform a massage on somebody
- massajarto perform a massage on somebody
Romanian masaj, masare
- masajrubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- masarerubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- masato perform a massage on somebody
- a face masajto perform a massage on somebody
- manipulato manipulate data or a document
Russian масса́ж, масси́ровать
- масса́ж (massáž)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- масси́ровать (massírovatʹ)to perform a massage on somebody
- де́лать масса́ж (délatʹ massáž)to perform a massage on somebody
Slovak masáž
- masážrubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
Spanish masaje, masajear
- masajerubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- masajearto perform a massage on somebody
Swedish massage, massera
- massagerubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- masserato perform a massage on somebody
Thai การนวด, นวด
- การนวด (gaan-nûuat)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- นวด (nûuat)to perform a massage on somebody
Turkish masaj, masaj yapmak
- masajrubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- masaj yapmakto perform a massage on somebody
Ukrainian маса́ж, масажува́ти
- маса́ж (masáž)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- масажува́ти (masažuváty)to perform a massage on somebody
- промасажува́ти (promasažuváty)to perform a massage on somebody
Urdu مالِش, مَساج
- مالِش (māliś)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- مَساج (masāj)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
Vietnamese sự xoa bóp, sự đấm bóp
- sự xoa bóprubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- sự đấm bóprubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
- xoa bópto perform a massage on somebody
- tẩm quấtto perform a massage on somebody
- mát-xato perform a massage on somebody
Welsh tylino
- tylinorubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
Yiddish מאַסאַזש
- מאַסאַזש (masazh)rubbing, kneading, or hitting muscled part of a body
Cite this entry
APA
massage. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/massage
MLA
“massage.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/massage. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “massage,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/massage.
Source: massage on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.