Mess

How to spell mess

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce mess

What does mess mean?

1. nounA state of untidiness, dirtiness, or confusion.
2. verbTo make something dirty or untidy, or to handle something carelessly.
3. nounA communal dining area or group of people who eat together, especially in the armed forces.

Mess in a sentence

• noun

  The kitchen was a complete mess after the dinner party.

• verb

  Try not to mess the freshly cleaned carpet.

• noun

  The officers gathered in the mess for their evening meal.

• noun

  His finances were in such a mess that he hired an accountant.

• verb

  Do not mess with the wiring unless you know what you are doing.

• noun

  New recruits were shown to the mess before training began.

Where does mess come from?

Language of origin: French

This little word arrived in English in the 1300s from Old French mes, meaning a portion or serving of food, which in turn came from the Latin missus, the past participle of mittere, 'to send'. The idea was literally a dish 'sent' to the table, so a 'mess' was once simply a course of a meal. From there it came to mean a group of people who regularly ate together, which is why soldiers and sailors still speak of an officers' mess to this day. The familiar sense of disorder or a dirty, jumbled state grew up much later, in the 1800s, probably from the notion of a mixed, sloppy dish of food (a 'mess of pottage'). The single short vowel and double 's' make it an easy spelling, with the only mild trap being the doubled consonant at the end.

How the word is built

• mess (from Old French mes: a portion of food sent to the table; no internal prefix or suffix)