massif

See also: mâssif

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French massif, from Middle French massif, ultimately from Latin massa, from Ancient Greek μᾶζα (mâza, “barley-cake, lump (of dough)”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mæˈsiːf/, /ˈmæsɪf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːf

Noun

massif (plural massifs)

1. A principal mountain mass.
2. A block of the earth's crust bounded by faults or flexures and displaced as a unit without internal change; normally consists of gneisses and schists.
   • 2011, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Pulphead:

     The southern borders of these states are keyed to the same horizontal projection, one surveyed by the frontier planter William Byrd in 1728, while the rivers forming their northern extents fall back just opposite each other from the flanks of the Appalachian massif.

   • 1921, Max Roesler, The Iron-ore Resources of Europe‎^[1], page 68:

     Some deposits of iron ore are scattered along the edges of the massif in south - central France.

   • 1891, Carl Diener, “Reviews and Notices”, in The Alpine Journal‎^[2], volume 15, page 564:

     The southern portion of the zone from the Maritime Alps to the Pelvoux massif is complicated by the movements which have accompanied the formation of the mountains of Provence.

Translations

principal mountain mass

• Arabic: نَجْد m (najd)
• Aragonese: macizo m
• Azerbaijani: massiv
• Basque: mendigune
• Belarusian: масі́ў m (masíŭ)
• Bulgarian: маси́в m (masív)
• Catalan: massís (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 山體／山体 (saan¹ tai²), 体 (saan¹ tai²)

  Mandarin: 山體／山体 (zh) (shāntǐ)

• Czech: masiv m
• Danish: massiv n, bjergmassiv n
• Dutch: massief (nl) n, bergmassief (nl) n
• Esperanto: masivo
• Estonian: massiiv
• Finnish: massiivi
• French: massif (fr) m
• Galician: macizo m
• Georgian: მასივი (masivi)
• German: Massiv (de) n

  Alemannic German: Massiv n

• Greek: μασίφ (el) m (masíf)
• Hebrew: מַסִּיף m (massif)
• Hindi: पुंजक (puñjak), मैसिफ़ (maisif)
• Hungarian: masszívum (hu)
• Indonesian: masif (id)
• Irish: masaíf f
• Italian: massiccio (it) m
• Japanese: 山塊 (ja) (さんかい, sankai)
• Kazakh: массив (massiv)
• Korean: 육괴(陸塊) (yukgoe)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: masif (ku)

• Kyrgyz: массив (massiv)
• Latvian: masīvs m
• Lithuanian: masyvas m
• Macedonian: масив m (masiv)
• Malay: massif
• Manx: glout-sleitagh
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: massiv n, fjellmassiv n

  Nynorsk: massiv n

• Occitan: massís m
• Persian: توده‌کوه (tude kuh)
• Polish: masyw (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: maciço (pt) m
• Romanian: masiv (ro) n
• Russian: масси́в (ru) m (massív)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ма̀сӣв m

  Roman: màsīv (sh) m

• Slovak: masív m
• Slovene: masiv (sl) m
• Spanish: macizo (es) m
• Swedish: massiv (sv) n, bergsmassiv n
• Tajik: массив (massiv)
• Turkish: masif (tr)
• Turkmen: massiw
• Ukrainian: маси́в m (masýv)
• Uzbek: massiv (uz)

  Cyrillic: массив (uz) (massiv)

• Vietnamese: khối núi
• Volapük: masif (vo)

block of the earth's crust

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 地塊／地块 (zh) (dìkuài)

• Finnish: massiivi

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} מִקְשֵׁה הָרִים f (mikshe hɑrim), ^{(please verify)} גוש הרים m (gush hɑrim), ^{(please verify)} מַסִּיף m (massif)

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French massiz (with the suffix replaced by -if), from Vulgar Latin *massīcius, from Latin massa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.sif/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

massif m (plural massifs)

1. massif

Derived terms

• Massif central

Adjective

massif (feminine massive, masculine plural massifs, feminine plural massives)

1. massive

Derived terms

• arme de destruction massive
• cours en ligne ouvert et massif
• nom massif

References

• “massif”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• massiff, massiffe, massyf

Etymology

From Middle French massif; equivalent to mass +‎ -if.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmasif/

Adjective

massif

1. (Late Middle English) weighty, massy, weighing very much.
2. (Late Middle English, rare) massive, huge, enormous.
3. (Late Middle English, rare) not sharp, unsharpened, coarse.

Related terms

• massy

Descendants

• English: massive
• Scots: massive (obsolete)

References

• “massī̆f, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-27.