Mesh

How to spell mesh

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce mesh

What does mesh mean?

1. nounA net-like material of woven wire, thread, or plastic with open spaces between the strands.
2. verbTo fit or work together smoothly, or to make interlocking parts engage.

Mesh in a sentence

• noun

  The gardener stretched fine mesh over the seedlings to keep the birds away.

• verb

  The gears must mesh precisely or the engine will grind.

• noun

  The filter is lined with a steel mesh that traps grit before it reaches the pump.

• verb

  Our schedules simply do not mesh this week, so the meeting was postponed.

Where does mesh come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word traces back to Old English max or masc, meaning the loop or opening in a net, and to its close Germanic relatives such as Middle Dutch maesche and Old High German masca, all naming the gaps between the threads of a net rather than the threads themselves. The underlying sense was a knot or a noose, the point where strands cross and a hole is formed. Over the medieval period the spelling settled toward 'mesh', and the meaning broadened from a single opening to the whole woven network of cord, wire, or fabric. By the time mechanical gears arrived, the verb sense developed: teeth that interlock were said to mesh, just as the strands of a net engage with one another. The modern figurative use, where ideas or schedules mesh, grows naturally from that image of parts fitting cleanly together.

How the word is built

• mesh (single root, no affixes; from a Germanic word for the openings of a net)