mat

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: măt, IPA^(key): /mæt/
• (US) enPR: măt, IPA^(key): /mæt/,

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophones: Matt, matte
• Rhymes: -æt

Etymology 1

From Middle English matte, from Old English meatte, from Late Latin matta, from Punic or Phoenician (compare Hebrew מיטה \ מִטָּה (mitá, “bed, couch”)).

Noun

mat (plural mats)

1. A flat piece of coarse material used for wiping one’s feet, or as a decorative or protective floor covering.

   Wipe your feet on the mat before coming in.

3. A small flat piece of material used to protect a surface from anything hot or rough; a coaster.

   They put mats on the table during mealtimes.

4. (athletics) A floor pad to protect athletes.

   The high jumper cleared the bar and landed safely on the mat.

5. A thickly tangled mess.

   a mat of weeds

   • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:

     But to return to where we left her, I see her still, propped up in a kind of stupor against one of the walls in which this wretched edifice abounds, her long grey greasy hair framing in its cowl of scrofulous mats a face where pallor, languor, hunger, acne, recent dirt, immemorial chagrin and surplus hair seemed to dispute the mastery.

6. A thin layer of woven, non-woven, or knitted fiber that serves as reinforcement to a material.
7. A thin surface layer; superficial cover.

   Iceland moss growing in a mat

   • 2016 November 15, Donald R. Prothero, The Princeton Field Guide to Prehistoric Mammals‎, page 222:

     The fad for blaming all mass extinctions (such as happened at the end of the Cretaceous when the dinosaurs vanished) on impacts of objects from space was extended to the Pleistocene in 2007. That year a group of scientists proposed that the North American extinctions were due to a comet or meteorite impact over the Carolinas, near the beginning of the Younger Dryas event, about 12,900 years ago. The original evidence for this supposed impact was a "black mat" of organic material in many Clovis sites, plus microscopic nano-diamonds in deep-sea cores, and rare Platinum group metals in Greenland ice cores from around 12,900 years ago.

Derived terms

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: mat
• → Japanese: マット (matto)
• → Russian: мат (mat)
• → Spanish: mat

Translations

Verb

mat (third-person singular simple present mats, present participle matting, simple past and past participle matted)

1. (transitive) To cover, protect or decorate with mats.
   • 1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], “Kalendarium Hortense: Or, The Gard’ners Almanac; ”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. , London: Jo Martyn, and Ja Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, , →OCLC:

     Be careful now to keep the Doors and Windows of your Conservatories well matted

2. (intransitive) To form a thick, tangled mess; to interweave into, or like, a mat; to entangle.
   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:

     And o'er his eyebrows hung his matted hair.

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

mat (plural mats)

1. (video games, slang, chiefly Fortnite, in the plural) Clipping of material.

   I used up all my mats cranking 90s and ended up getting one-pumped.

   • 2019 October 24, Christopher Groux, “'Fortnite' Weapon Upgrade Guide - Upgrade Bench Locations & More”, in Newsweek‎, New York, N.Y.: Newsweek Publishing LLC, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-30:

     Using a Weapon Upgrade Bench, it's possible to upgrade a Common Shotgun, for example, all the way to Legendary provided you've harvested enough mats to do so.

   • , archived from the original on 2023-05-21:

     While there are game modes where you can build without any requirements, you'll need to harvest materials to build in normal Fortnite games. Mats is the shortened version of materials.]

   • 2021 September 25, Alan Bernal, “Viral Fortnite TikTok trick shows how to use Armored Walls for easy kills”, in Dexerto‎, archived from the original on 2021-10-26:

     Fortnite added a new trap with the Armored Wall reinforcement for mats and one viral TikTok showed just how deadly the new item can be in a close fight.

   • 2022 July 16, Sarthak Chauhan, “Fortnite YouTuber using 1000 mats in less than 30 seconds shows exactly what not to do”, in Sportskeeda‎, archived from the original on 2023-05-29:

     The looper goes on laying more than a thousand mats in thirty seconds. He finally reaches his opponent, who is easily brought down with a shell of a shotgun and a burst of an SMG. Upon eliminating the opponent, he is ecstatic in celebration.

Related terms

Etymology 3

Compare matte.

Alternative forms

• matt

Noun

mat

1. (coppersmithing) An alloy of copper, tin, iron, etc.; white metal.

Etymology 4

A clipped form of matinee.

Noun

mat (plural mats)

1. (dated slang) Abbreviation of matinee (“performance at a theater”).
   • 1898, The Hotel/Motor Hotel Monthly, volume 6, page 27:

     A gents' toilet room might be found in a house that caters for the cheaper class of theatrical patronage, where the slangy language of the "goin' to the mat this aft?" style prevails. A gents toilet room is not found in the Southern Hotel. It either "men's" or "gentlemen's".

Etymology 5

Noun

mat (plural mats)

1. Alternative spelling of matte (“decorative border around a picture”)

   the mat of a daguerreotype

Etymology 6

Adjective

mat

1. Alternative form of matte (“not reflecting light”)
   • 2013, K. A. Spencer, Agromyzidae (Diptera) of Economic Importance, page 264:

     Frons mat black, orbits slightly paler, more greyish; mesonotum distinctly mat, greyish-black, but with some subshine; […]

See also

Etymology 7

Noun

mat (plural mats)

1. (printing) Short for matrix.

Anagrams

• AMT, ATM, MTA, TAM, TMA, amt, amt., atm, tam

Ainu

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mat/

Noun

mat (Kana spelling マッ)

1. (mainly in compounds) woman, female
2. wife

   mat etun

   take a wife

Verb

mat (Kana spelling マッ)

1. take a wife

   te wano anak mat ka a=kor kusu ne.

   From now on, I'm going to get a wife, too.

Synonyms

• menoko

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "woman"): okkayo (“man”)
• (antonym(s) of "wife"): hoku (“husband”)

Derived terms

• matne (“female”)

Albanian

Alternative forms

• matje

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *mata, from pre-Albanian *mn̥to, from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to tower, stand out”) (compare Welsh mynydd, Latin mōns, Avestan mati).

Noun

mat m (plural mate, definite mati, definite plural matet)

1. seacoast
2. riverbank
3. sandy shore, sandy beach

Synonyms

• (sandy beach): ranishtë

References

Atong (India)

Etymology

Cognate with Garo mat/Garo mat-. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Noun

mat

1. wild animal

Derived terms

References

• van Breugel, Seino. 2015. Atong-English dictionary, second edition. Available online: https://www.academia.edu/487044/Atong_English_Dictionary.

Breton

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *matis (compare Irish maith).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maːd/

Adjective

mat

1. good

Related terms

• ma

Mutation

Catalan

Noun

mat m (plural mats)

1. checkmate

Derived terms

• escac i mat

Czech

Czech Wikipedia has an article on:

mat

Wikipedia ^cs

Etymology

Ultimately from Persian شاه مات (šâh mât, literally “the king is amazed”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

mat m inan

1. checkmate

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• mat in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• mat in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
• mat in Internetová jazyková příručka

Danish

Adjective

mat (neuter mat, plural and definite singular attributive matte)

1. dull, not shiny
2. tired

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɑt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mat
• Rhymes: -ɑt

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch matte, borrowed from Latin matta. Cognates include English mat and German Matte.

Noun

mat m or f (plural matten, diminutive matje n)

1. rug, mat
2. (hairstyle, chiefly diminutive) mullet

Derived terms

• deurmat
• hangmat
• kokosmat
• mattenklopper
• muismat
• rietmat
• slaapmat
• turnmat

Related terms

• placemat

Descendants

• → Papiamentu: mat

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch mat (“checkmate”), borrowed from Old French mat, borrowed from Persian شاه مات (šâh mât, “the king is dead”). Cognate to English checkmate.

Noun

mat n (plural matten)

1. checkmate

Related terms

• schaakmat

Etymology 3

From Middle Dutch mat, borrowed from Old French mat, from Latin mattus (“depressed”). See also French mat (adjective).

Adjective

mat (comparative matter, superlative matst)

1. matte, not reflecting light
2. dull, uninteresting

Inflection

Derived terms

• matglas
• matkop

Verb

mat

1. inflection of matten:
   1. first/second/third-person singular present indicative
   2. imperative

Etymology 4

See Dutch meten.

Verb

mat

1. singular past indicative of meten

References

• “mat” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie.
• Notes:

Anagrams

• tam

Emilian

Emiliano-Romagnolo Wikipedia has an article on:

mat

Wikipedia ^eml

Alternative forms

• mât (Modenese, Reggiano)

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: mat

Noun

mat m (plural mat) (Mirandola)

1. insane

Synonyms

• matùs (Carpigiano)

Faroese

Etymology

From the noun matur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛaːt/
• Rhymes: -ɛaːt
• Homophone: mæt

Noun

mat

1. accusative singular of matur.

Anagrams

• amt

French

Etymology 1

Probably from Latin mattus, which is from madere; see Italian matto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mat/
  • Rhymes: -at
  • Homophones: mate, matent, mates, math, maths, mats, matte, mattent, mattes (general), mâte, mâtent, mâtes (some speakers)
• (also) IPA^(key): /ma/
  • Rhymes: -a
  • Homophones: ma, mats (general), mât, mâts (some speakers)

Adjective

mat (feminine mate, masculine plural mats, feminine plural mates)

1. matt
2. pale

Related terms

• matité

Etymology 2

Abbreviation of the French expression échec et mat, from Persian شاه مات (šâh mât, “the king is ambushed”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mat/
• Rhymes: -at
• Homophones: mate, matent, mates, math, maths, mats, matte, mattent, mattes (general), mâte, mâtent, mâtes (some speakers)

Adjective

mat (feminine mate, masculine plural mats, feminine plural mates)

1. checkmated

Noun

mat m (plural mats)

1. checkmate

Derived terms

• échec et mat

References

• Notes:

Further reading

• “mat”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Anagrams

• AMT

Garo

Noun

mat

1. squirrel

Prefix

mat

1. prefix for mammals

Gothic

Romanization

mat

1. Romanization of 𐌼𐌰𐍄

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maːt/
• Rhymes: -aːt

Etymology 1

Noun

mat n (genitive singular mats, nominative plural möt)

1. (usually uncountable) evaluation

Declension

Related terms

• meta (“to evaluate”)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

mat

1. inflection of matur:
   1. indefinite accusative singular
   2. indefinite dative singular

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Old High German mit, from Proto-Germanic *midi. Cognate with German mit, Dutch met, West Frisian mei, Icelandic með.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɑt/

  Rhymes: -ɑt

Preposition

mat

1. with

Antonyms

• ouni

Malay

Etymology

Shortening of Ahmad or Muhammad, two common Malay names.

Noun

mat (plural mat-mat, informal 1st possessive matku, 2nd possessive matmu, 3rd possessive matnya)

1. (colloquial, slang) a certain person; a fellow; a dude.
2. (colloquial, slang) a John Doe.

Derived terms

• mat gian (a drug addict)
• mat rempit (an illegal street racer)
• mat rok (a heavy metal fan)
• Mat Salleh (a White or European man)

Related terms

• minah (a certain woman, a Jane Doe)

Maricopa

Noun

mat

2. earth

Marshallese

Pronunciation

• (phonetic) IPA^(key):
• (phonemic) IPA^(key): /mʲætˠ/
• Bender phonemes: {mat}

Etymology 1

From Proto-Micronesian *masu, from Proto-Oceanic *masuʀ, contraction of Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *mabosuʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *bəsuʀ, from Proto-Austronesian *bəsuʀ. Cognate with Tongan mahu (“abound in food”).

Adjective

mat

1. full (after eating), satiated

Etymology 2

Adjective

mat

1. cooked

References

• Marshallese–English Online Dictionary

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French mat, a backformation from eschec mat (“checkmate”).

Alternative forms

• maat, mate, matt

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maːt/, /mat/

Interjection

mat

1. (chess) Said when the opponent's king is captured.

Related terms

• chekmat
• maten

Descendants

• English: mate

References

• “māt, interj. & n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Noun

mat

1. checkmate, mate (moment of the opponent's king's capture)

Descendants

• English: mate

References

• “māt, interj. & n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Adjective

mat

1. checkmated, defeated (in chess)

References

• “māt, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

From Old French mat (“defeated, tired”), from Late Latin mattus. Compare modern English matte.

Alternative forms

• maat, mate, matt

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maːt/, /mat/

Adjective

mat (plural and weak singular mate)

1. vanquished, defeated, defenceless
2. tired, fatigued
3. depressed, sorrowful
4. confused, afraid

Related terms

• maten

References

• “māt, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 3

Noun

mat

1. Alternative form of mate

Etymology 4

Noun

mat

1. Alternative form of matte

Etymology 5

Verb

mat

1. Alternative form of maten (“to overpower”)

Northern Sami

Pronoun

mat

1. nominative plural of mii

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:

mat

Wikipedia ^no

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /maːt/,

Rhymes: -aːt

Etymology 1

From Old Norse matr. Cognates include: Danish mad, Swedish mat, Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍄𐍃 (mats), Old English mete (English meat).

Noun

mat m (definite singular maten, uncountable)

1. food

Derived terms

Related terms

• mate

See also

• føde
• næring

Etymology 2

Verb

mat

1. imperative of mate

References

• “mat” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:

mat

Wikipedia ⁿⁿ

Etymology

From Old Norse matr.

Noun

mat m (definite singular maten, uncountable)

1. food

Derived terms

References

• “mat” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old French

Adjective

mat m (oblique and nominative feminine singular mate)

1. checkmated; in checkmate

Old Irish

Verb

mat

1. third-person plural present subjunctive of masu
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 4^a27

     I⟨s⟩ samlid trá is lobur ar n-irnigde-ni, mat réte frecndirci gesme, et nín·fortéit-ni in spirut oc suidiu.

     Thus then our way of praying is feeble if present things are what we ask for, and the spirit does not help us with this.

Paipai

Noun

mat

1. land

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

mat

Wikipedia ^pl

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mat/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -at
• Syllabification: mat

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Arabic مَات (māt), from Persian شاه مات (šâh mât).

Noun

mat m animal

1. (chess) checkmate

Declension

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Dutch maat.

Noun

mat m pers

1. (military, nautical) mate (ship's officer)
2. (nautical) mate (in naval ranks, a non-commissioned officer)

Declension

Etymology 3

Borrowed from German matt.

Noun

mat m inan

1. matt, matte (dull colour or surface)

Declension

Derived terms

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

mat f

1. genitive plural of mata

Further reading

• mat in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• mat in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French mat.

Adjective

mat m or n (feminine singular mată, masculine plural mați, feminine and neuter plural mate)

1. matte

Declension

Romansch

Etymology

From Latin marītus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

mat m

1. boy

Semai

Etymology

From Proto-Aslian *mat, from Proto-Mon-Khmer *mat (“eye”). Cognate with Khmer មាត់ (mŏət), Mon မတ် (mòt), Vietnamese mắt, Car Nicobarese mat.

Noun

mat

1. eye

References

Slavomolisano

Etymology

From Serbo-Croatian mati.

Noun

mat f

1. mother

Declension

References

• Ivica Peša Matracki and Nada Županović Filipin (2014), Changes in the System of Oblique Cases in Molise Croatian Dialect.
• Walter Breu and Giovanni Piccoli (2000), Dizionario croato molisano di Acquaviva Collecroce: Dizionario plurilingue della lingua slava della minoranza di provenienza dalmata di Acquaviva Collecroce in Provincia di Campobasso (Parte grammaticale).

Slovak

Etymology

Derived from Arabic مَاتَ (māta) in Persian شاه مات (šâh mât, “the king is dead”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mat/

Noun

mat m inan (genitive singular matu, nominative plural maty, genitive plural matov, declension pattern of dub)

1. the final move in a chess game, the checkmate

Declension

Derived terms

• matový

Related terms

• šach-mat

References

• “mat”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

Anagrams

• tam
• tma

South Efate

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *(m-)atay. Cognate to Big Nambas im'a.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mat/

Verb

mat

1. to die

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English mat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmat/
• Rhymes: -at
• Syllabification: mat

Noun

mat m (plural mats)

1. mat (for exercise)

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse matr, from Proto-Germanic *matiz, from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɑːt/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

mat c

1. food

Declension

Derived terms

References

• mat in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

Anagrams

• tam

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English mat.

Noun

mat

1. sitting or sleeping mat

Volapük

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mat/

Noun

mat (nominative plural mats)

1. marriage, wedlock, matrimony

Declension

Derived terms

• matan
• matikön
• matön