massa
massa Lexical Profile
massa Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A city and commune in central Italy, located in the Tuscany region near the Ligurian Sea at the foot of the Apuan Alps, serving as the administrative co-capital of the province of Massa and Carrara.
American A historical and literary eye-dialect representation of the word 'master', formerly used by enslaved African Americans in the southern United States when addressing or referring to an enslaver or white man of authority.
"Nine-teenth-century abolitionist narratives frequently recorded the dialectal term massa when quoting dialogue from southern plantations."
Word Nuance & Usage
When used as a dialectal representation of 'master', this term is restricted to historical contexts or literary depictions of the antebellum American South and carries strong racial connotations; it should not be confused with 'masa', the Spanish-derived word for corn dough.
• Rhymes for massa
• Nearby Words
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.