Moss

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /mÉ’s/
• US enPR: mäs, IPA: /mÉ‘s/
• Rhymes: -É’s

Origin

From Middle English mos, from Old English mos ("bog, marsh, moss"), from Proto-Germanic *musą ("marsh, moss"), from Proto-Indo-European *mūs-, *meus- ("moss"). Cognate with Old High German mos ("moss") (German Moos), Icelandic mosi, Danish mos, Swedish mossa, Latin muscus ("moss").

Full definition of moss

Noun

1. Any of various small, green, seedless plants growing on the ground or on the surfaces of trees, stones, etc.; now specifically, a plant of the division Bryophyta (formerly ).
2. (countable) A kind or species of such plants.
3. (informal) Any alga, lichen, bryophyte, or other plant of seemingly simple structure.Spanish moss; Irish moss; club moss.
4. (now chiefly UK regional) A bog; a fen.the mosses of the Scottish border

Usage notes

The plural form mosses is used when more than one kind of moss is meant. The singular moss is used referring to a collection of moss plants of the same kind.

Synonyms

• (simple plant) alga, cryptogam, lichen

Hypernyms

• (Bryophyta) bryophyte

Derived terms

Verb

1. (intransitive) To become covered with moss.An oak whose boughs were mossed with age.
2. (transitive) To cover (something) with moss.