## Meanings
1. A covering for the face, used for protection or to hide who you are.
2. To hide a feeling, fact, or quality.
3. Something used to hide the truth; a false appearance.

## Examples
- The nurse wore a mask to protect against infection.
- She smiled to mask her disappointment.
- His cheerful jokes were just a mask for his sadness.

## Synonyms
- vizard

## Derived Forms
- anti-mask
- antimask
- antimasker
- bemask
- deathmask
- demask
- dismask
- eyemask
- facemask
- filemask
- gasmask
- half-mask

## Related Forms
- mascara
- masquerade

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: masque
- Root: maschera
- Root: masca
- Root: *maskā

## Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French masque (“a covering to hide or protect the face”), from Italian maschera (“mask, disguise”), from (a byform of, see it for more) Medieval Latin masca, mascha, a borrowing of Proto-West Germanic *maskā, from which English mesh and mask (“mesh”) (below at Etymology 2) are inherited. Doublet of masque and mesh. Replaced Old English grīma (“mask”), whence grime, and displaced non-native Middle English viser (“visor, mask”) borrowed from Old French viser, visier.

## AI Etymology
Mask was borrowed from Middle French masque (“a covering to hide or protect the face”), from Italian maschera (“mask, disguise”), from (a byform of, see it for more) Medieval Latin masca, mascha, a borrowing of Proto-West Germanic *maskā, from which English mesh and mask (“mesh”) (below at Etymology 2) are inherited. Doublet of masque and mesh. Replaced Old English grīma (“mask”), whence grime, and displaced non-native Middle English viser (“visor, mask”) borrowed from Old French viser, visier. In present-day English its meanings include a covering for the face, used for protection or to hide who you are, to hide a feeling, fact, or quality, and something used to hide the truth; a false appearance. The historical chain runs through masque (Middle French), maschera (Italian), masca (la-med), and *maskā (Proto-West Germanic).

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Clothing & Appearance

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