Word.ws English Dictionary

masa

masa noun: a strong form of paper, smooth on one side and lightly textured on the other, used for drawing and painting.

Noun (1)

masa (uncountable)

  1. A strong form of paper, smooth on one side and lightly textured on the other, used for drawing and painting.
    Synonyms:
    masa paper

Noun (2)

masa (usually uncountable, plural masas)

  1. (US, usually) Maize dough made from freshly prepared hominy, used for making tortillas, tamales, etc.
    • The chef Fermín Núñez of Suerte, in Austin, Texas, considers masa “the canvas of what Mexican cooking is all about.” “Without masa,” he said, “there’s no tortillas, and, without tortillas, there’s no tacos!”2023 July 7, Rick A. Martínez, quoting Fermín Núñez, “For the Best Tortillas (and Gorditas and Tetelas), You Need Fresh Masa”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Noun (3) capitalized: Masa

Masa pl (plural only)

  1. (alternative, plural, plural-only) Alternative form of Massa (“Chadic ethnic group”).

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Masa

Masa

  1. (alternative) Alternative form of Massa (“Chadic language”).

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Masa

Masa (plural Masas)

  1. A female given name from Japanese.

Noun (4) capitalized: MASA

MASA (uncountable)

  1. (abbreviation) Short for MASA syndrome.

Synonyms of masa

  • masa paper

Forms of masa

Noun
pluralmasas
Proper noun
pluralMasas

Origin of masa

Borrowed from Japanese 柾 (masa) or 政 (masa), an abbreviation of 柾紙 (masagami) or 政紙 (masagami).

From Spanish masa (“dough”). Doublet of mass.

From Japanese まさ (Masa).

Phrases with masa

Questions about masa

What does masa mean?
Masa means a strong form of paper, smooth on one side and lightly textured on the other, used for drawing and painting.
What part of speech is masa?
Masa can be a noun or a proper noun.
What is the plural of masa?
The plural of masa is masas.

Words near masa in the dictionary

  1. mas
  2. Mas John
  3. Mas Johns
  4. mas'r
  5. Mas-in
  6. masa
  7. MASA syndrome
  8. Masaba
  9. Masaccio
  10. masacuate
  11. Masada

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: masa (page history and authors); Masa (page history and authors); MASA (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “masa.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/masa. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.