Other forms: masses
Mass is how much matter a thing is made of. The mass of the earth, low mass, mass and weight.
Mass and weight are not the same: mass is the amount of matter and weight is the force gravity exerts on it, so your mass is identical on the moon and your weight is a sixth. Mass is measured in kilograms. It also means a large quantity — a mass of people — and Mass, capitalised, is the Catholic service. Note mass production, mass media.
1nounmassHow much matter a thing is made of.
“Scientists measured the mass of the rock in the laboratory.”
2nounlargeA large quantity of something.
“A mass of dark clouds gathered over the hills.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
mass is a quantity of matter.
Latin massa means a lump or dough, from Greek maza, a barley cake. The religious Mass is a completely different word, from the Latin dismissal at the end of the service.
Proto-Indo-European
*maǵ- — to oil, knead
Ancient Greek
μᾶζα — barley-cake, lump (of dough)
Latin
massa — lump, dough
Anglo-Norman
masse
English, today
mass
Built from
In late Middle English - (circa 1400) as masse in the sense of "lump, quantity of matter", from Anglo-Norman masse, in Old French - attested from the 11th century, via late Latin massa (“lump, dough”), from Ancient Greek μᾶζα (“barley-cake, lump (of dough)”). The Greek noun may be derived from the verb μάσσω (“to knead”), ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European maǵ- (“to oil, knead”), although this is uncertain. a doublet of masa. The sense of "a large number or quantity" arises circa 1580. The scientific sense is from 1687 (as Latin massa) in the works of Isaac Newton, with the first English use (as mass) occurring in 1704.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA