different between mountainrange vs massif

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French massif, from Middle French massif, from Latin massa, from Ancient Greek ???? (mâza, “barley-cake, lump (of dough)”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mæ?si?f/, /?mæs?f/
• Rhymes: -i?f

Noun

massif (plural massifs)

1. A principal mountain mass.
2. A block of the earth's crust bounded by faults or flexures and displaced as a unit without internal change; normally consists of gneisses and schists
   • 2011, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Pulphead:

     The southern borders of these states are keyed to the same horizontal projection, one surveyed by the frontier planter William Byrd in 1728, while the rivers forming their northern extents fall back just opposite each other from the flanks of the Appalachian massif.

Translations

French

Etymology

masse (“mass”) +? -if

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.sif/

Noun

massif m (plural massifs)

1. massif

Adjective

massif (feminine singular massive, masculine plural massifs, feminine plural massives)

1. massive

Derived terms

• arme de destruction massive
• cours en ligne ouvert et massif
• nom massif

Further reading

• “massif” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle English

Alternative forms

• massiff, massiffe, massyf

Etymology

From Middle French massif; equivalent to mass +? -if.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?masif/

Adjective

massif

1. (Late Middle English) weighty, massy, weighing very much.
2. (Late Middle English, rare) massive, huge, enormous.
3. (Late Middle English, rare) not sharp, unsharpened, coarse.

Related terms

• massy

Descendants

• English: massive
• Scots: massive (obsolete)

References

• “mass??f, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-27.