mustache

Alternative forms

• (Commonwealth English) moustache

The mustache of Charlie Chaplin

Etymology

From French moustache, from Italian mostaccio, from Byzantine Greek μουστάκιον (moustákion), diminutive of (Doric) Ancient Greek μύσταξ (mústax, “upper lip”), from Proto-Indo-European *mendʰ- (“to chew”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌstæʃ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmʊstɑːʃ/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

mustache (plural mustaches)

1. A growth of facial hair between the nose and the upper lip.
   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 29686887 , chapter IV:

     “My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”

See also

• mustachio

See also

• beard
• sideburn, sideboard
• whisker