mascot

noun

mas·​cot ˈma-ˌskät 

 also  -skət

: a person, animal, or object adopted by a group as a symbolic figure especially to bring them good luck

the team had a mountain lion as their mascot

Synonyms

• amulet
• charm
• fetish
• fetich
• mojo
• periapt
• phylactery
• talisman

Examples of mascot in a Sentence

The team had a mountain lion as their mascot.

she wears a mascot made of ebony and silver on a chain around her neck

Recent Examples on the Web

Photo : Sinna Nasseri Courtside Flicks Burnie, the Heat’s seven-foot-tall mascot, poses with fans courtside. —John Vorwald, Robb Report, 20 Apr. 2024

At a recent racing event, runners were greeted by a person dressed as a Stumpy mascot, complete with a racing bib. —USA TODAY, 18 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

French mascotte, from Occitan mascoto, from masco witch, from Medieval Latin masca

First Known Use

1881, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

mascot

noun

mas·​cot ˈmas-ˌkät 

 also  -kət

: a person, animal, or object supposed to bring good luck

Etymology

from French mascotte "mascot," from a Romance word mascoto "charm," literally "little witch," from masco "witch," from Latin masca "witch"

Word Origin

The word mascot is an example of words that come to have a more pleasant meaning as they develop through the years and through many languages. The ancestor of mascot is the Latin word masca, used in the Middle Ages to mean "witch." Masca passed into the Romance speech of southern France as masco. Later it developed a derivative mascoto, literally meaning "little witch" but actually used to mean "charm" or "magic spell." A magic spell can be used for good as well as bad. Already, then, we have the beginnings of a change to a nicer idea in the basic use of the word. The word mascoto came to be mascotte in modern French, meaning a "good luck charm." It was made popular by the operetta La Mascotte in 1880. In this operetta "la mascotte" is the lovely young woman Bettina, whose influence brings victories to the army of the prince of Pisa. English later borrowed the word as mascot, with the meaning "a person or thing thought to bring good luck." Today the word is often used to refer to an animal chosen by a school or college as a good luck symbol for its sports teams.