CS Knowledge Base

Clipping of English Matlatzinca or Spanish matlatzinca.

mat

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Matlatzinca.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Matlatzinca terms

Inherited from Middle English matte (“mat”), from Old English meatte (“mat”), from Late Latin matta (“mat made of rushes”), from Punic or Phoenician (compare Hebrew מיטה \ מִטָּה (mitá, “bed, couch”)). Cognate with German Matte (“mat”), Danish måtte (“mat”), Faroese and Icelandic motta (“rug, mat”), Norwegian matte (“mat, rug”), Swedish matta (“carpet, rug, mat”).

• (UK) enPR: măt, IPA^(key): /mæt/
• (US) enPR: măt, IPA^(key): /mæt/, [mæʔ(t̚)]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophones: Matt, matte
• Rhymes: -æt

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, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →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^[1], 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.

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

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[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] 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.

• unmat

mat (plural mats)

1. (video games slang, chiefly 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^[2], New York, N.Y.: Newsweek Publishing LLC, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 March 2023:

     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.

   • [2020 November 28, Gökhan Çakır, “Common Fortnite terms and their meanings”, in Dot Esports‎^[3], archived from the original on 21 May 2023:

     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^[4], archived from the original on 26 October 2021:

     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^[5], archived from the original on 29 May 2023:

     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.

Compare matte.

• matt

mat (plural mats)

1. (coppersmithing) An alloy of copper, tin, iron, etc.; white metal.
2. Alternative form of matte (“instrument for producing a dull, lustreless surface”).

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

1. Alternative form of matte (“to produce a dull, lustreless surface on metal”).

A clipped form of matinee.

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".

mat (plural mats)

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

   the mat of a daguerreotype

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; […]

mat (plural mats)

1. (printing) Clipping of matrix.

From Russian мат (mat), abbreviated from the expression ма́терная брань (máternaja branʹ), ultimately from мать (matʹ, “mother”).

mat (uncountable)

1. Vulgar, obscene, or profane language in Russian and some other Slavic language communities.
   • 1991 September 16, Michael Rabinovich, “Profanity in the USSR”, in soc.culture.soviet‎^[6] (Usenet), archived from the original on 15 August 2025:

     Most teenagers go through times when they use mat "rather heavily" among themselves. I guess they associate it with being adults. In most cases though this goes away pretty fast, usually when they start dating girls. Using mat rather heavily after graduating from university is a differnet^[sic] matter.

   • 1993 March 31, Elena Tsifrina, “let's collect MAT”, in soc.culture.soviet‎^[7] (Usenet), archived from the original on 15 August 2025:

     Don't you people have anything better to do than collecting mat. I still can't undestand why people in (and from) the ex-USSR like to swear so much.

   • 1993 June 22, Boris A. Veytsman, “Russian "mat" and Russian mentality”, in talk.politics.soviet‎^[8] (Usenet), archived from the original on 15 August 2025:

     As the Russian mentality (hopefully) will be less medieval, mat will lose its social role. It will be less frequently used in the spoken language. From the other hand, books will lose its medieval sacrality, and mat will be allowed to be printed.

• mat (profanity) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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

• IPA^(key): /mat/

mat (Kana spelling マッ)

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

   mat etun

   take a wife

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.

• menoko

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

• matne (“female”)

• matje

From Proto-Albanian *mata, from pre-Albanian *mn̥to, from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to tower, stand out”) (compare Welsh mynydd, Latin mōns, Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬙𐬌 (mati)).^[1][2]

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

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

• (sandy beach): ranishtë

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

mat

1. wild animal

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

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

• IPA^(key): /maːd/

mat

1. good

• Comparative: gwelloc'h
• Superlative: gwellañ

• ma

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

mat m (plural mats)

1. checkmate

• escac i mat

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

• IPA^(key): [ˈmat]

mat m inan

1. checkmate

• “mat”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “mat”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “mat”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

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

1. dull, not shiny
2. tired

• IPA^(key): /mɑt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mat
• Rhymes: -ɑt

From Middle Dutch matte, borrowed from Latin matta. Cognates include English mat and German Matte.^[1]

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

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

• placemat

• → Papiamentu: mat

From Middle Dutch mat (“checkmate”), borrowed from Old French mat, borrowed from Persian شاه مات (šâh mât, “the king is dead”).^[1] Cognate to English checkmate.

mat n (plural matten, no diminutive)

1. (chess) checkmate

• schaakmat

From Middle Dutch mat, borrowed from Old French mat, from Latin mattus (“depressed”).^[1] See also French mat (adjective).

mat (comparative matter, superlative matst)

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

Declension of mat
uninflected	mat
inflected	matte
comparative	matter
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		mat	matter	het matst het matste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	matte	mattere	matste
	n. sing.	mat	matter	matste
	plural	matte	mattere	matste
definite		matte	mattere	matste
partitive		mats	matters	—

• matglas
• matkop

mat

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

See Dutch meten.

mat

1. singular past indicative of meten

• “mat” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie. [the official spelling word list for the Dutch language]
• Notes:

• tam

• mât (Modenese, Reggiano)

• Hyphenation: mat

mat m (plural mat) (Mirandola)

1. insane

• matùs (Carpigiano)

From the noun matur.

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

mat

1. accusative singular of matur.

• amt

Probably from Latin mattus, which is from madere; see Italian matto.^[1]

• 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)

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

1. matt
2. pale

• matité

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

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

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

1. checkmated

mat m (plural mats)

1. checkmate

• échec et mat

• Notes:

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

• AMT

mat

1. squirrel

mat

1. prefix for mammals

mat

1. romanization of 𐌼𐌰𐍄

• IPA^(key): /maːt/
• Rhymes: -aːt

mat n (genitive singular mats, nominative plural möt)

1. (usually uncountable) evaluation

• meta (“to evaluate”)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

mat

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

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

• IPA^(key): /mɑt/

  Rhymes: -ɑt

mat

1. with

• ouni

Shortening of Ahmad or Muhammad, two common Malay names.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmat/ [ˈmat̪̚]

mat (plural mat-mat or mat²)

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

• minah (a certain woman, a Jane Doe)

mat

2. earth

• (phonetics) IPA^(key): [mʲɑtˠ]
• (phonemic) IPA^(key): /mʲætˠ/
• Bender phonemes: {mat}

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”).

mat

1. full (after eating); satiated

mat

1. cooked

• Marshallese–English Online Dictionary

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

• maat, mate, matt

• IPA^(key): /maːt/, /mat/

mat

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

• chekmat
• maten

• English: mate

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

mat

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

• English: mate

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

mat

1. checkmated, defeated (in chess)

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

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

• maat, mate, matt

• IPA^(key): /maːt/, /mat/

mat (plural and weak singular mate)

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

• maten

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

mat

1. alternative form of mate

mat

1. alternative form of matte

mat

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

mat

1. nominative plural of mii

• IPA^(key): /maːt/, [mɑːt̻]

• Rhymes: -aːt

From Old Norse matr. Cognates include: Danish mad, Swedish mat, Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍄𐍃 (mats), Old English mete (English meat).^[1]

mat m (definite singular maten, uncountable)

1. food

• mate

• føde (“sustenance”)
• næring (“nutrition”)

mat

1. imperative of mate

• “mat” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Old Norse matr.

mat m (definite singular maten, uncountable)

1. food

• “mat” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

mat m (oblique and nominative feminine singular mate)

1. checkmated; in checkmate

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.

mat

1. land

• IPA^(key): /ˈmat/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -at
• Syllabification: mat

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

mat m animal

1. (chess) checkmate

Borrowed from Dutch maat.

mat m pers

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

Borrowed from German matt.

mat m inan

1. matt, matte (dull colour or surface)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

mat f

1. genitive plural of mata

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

Borrowed from French mat.

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

1. matte

From Latin marītus.

• IPA^(key): [mat]

mat m

1. boy

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

mat ^[1]

1. eye

From Serbo-Croatian mati.

mat f

1. mother

• 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).

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

• IPA^(key): /mat/, [ˈmat]
• Rhymes: -at

mat m inan (relational adjective matový)

1. checkmate (final move in a chess game)

• šach-mat

• “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, 2003–2026

• tam
• tma

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

• IPA^(key): /mat/

mat

1. to die

Borrowed from English mat.

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

mat m (plural mats)

1. mat (for exercise)

From Old Norse matr, from Proto-Germanic *matiz, from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d-. Cognate with English meat.

• IPA^(key): /mɑːt/

• Audio:

  (file)

mat c

1. food

   mat och dryck

   food and drink

   Det är viktigt att äta mat så att man inte svälter ihjäl

   It is important to eat food so that you don't starve to death

   äta mat med kniv och gaffel (bestick)

   eat food with a knife and fork (cutlery)

   Var maten god?

   Was the food good?

   Maten var jättegod

   The food was really good / delicious [bit more informal]

   Smakade maten bra?

   Did the food taste good? / [pretty close in tone] Was the food good?

   Maten smakade utmärkt

   The food tasted excellent [bit more (possibly tongue-in-cheek) formal-sounding]

   Jag tycker om att laga mat

   I like cooking

   (literally, “I like to cook food”)

   När man matar en katt så ger man katten mat

   When you feed a cat, you give the cat food

   Efter maten satte vi oss i soffan och drack kaffe och samtalade

   After dinner [usually implied, possibly some other meal – "after the food"], we sat down on the couch and had coffee and talked [conversed]

   Mamma, när blir det mat?

   Mom, when's dinner?

   (literally, “Mom, when does it become [when will there be] food?”)

   Dinner usually implied here as well. See also the usage notes for bli (“become”).

• mata

• “mat”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “mat”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

• tam

From English mat.

mat

1. sitting or sleeping mat

• IPA^(key): /mat/

mat (genitive mata, plural mats)

1. marriage, wedlock, matrimony

• matan
• matikön
• matön

From English mat, from Middle English matte, from Old English meatte, from Late Latin matta, from Punic or Phoenician.

• IPA^(key): /mat/

mat m (plural matiau or matau)

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

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “mat”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies