Masa

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A starchy dough made from ground corn used especially for making tortillas and tamales ; a large quantity or collection of material or substance
2. A type of corn dough fundamental to many traditional Latin American dishes ; an extensive aggregation or body of matter
3. Ground corn dough widely used in Mexican and Central American cooking ; a substantial amount or bulk of a physical entity

Etymology: In Spanish, "masa" means simply dough of any kind. In English it narrowed to ground corn dough, the base of tortillas, tamales and other Mexican foods, usually made from maize soaked in lime, which loosens the hulls and makes the grain easier to grind and shape. Spanish "masa" comes from Latin "massa," a lump of kneaded material, which Latin had borrowed from Greek "maza," a barley cake. That makes it a doublet of English "mass," two words from the same source that reached English by different routes. "Mass" came through French and kept the general sense of a quantity of matter, while "masa" kept the kitchen sense of kneaded dough.

Synonyms: corn dough, cornmeal dough, dough, masa harina