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 of mascot

• talisman
• amulet
• emblem

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

Why growth changes the equation Buc-ee's rapid expansion has made its beaver mascot an increasingly valuable part of the company's business. — Jason St. Angelo, USA Today, 19 Aug. 2026

This is the story of a group of parents who are rushing to get a Trojan mascot across the Canadian-American border by the end of the week to avoid tariffs, not a mythical monster. — Conor Wight, CBS News, 19 Aug. 2026

Comic, actor and voice artist Kate Micucci acted as MC while Sandy Fox — the voice of Boop from 1991 to 2022 — popped on and off stage alongside someone in a mascot-like Betty Boop costume. — Marah Eakin, Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 2026

The gymnasium still features a banner for the Lancers, referring to the mascot of the closed private school. — Ilana Arougheti, Kansas City Star, 19 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

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

First Known Use

1881, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for mascot

• basket
• casket
• gasket
• wastebasket

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.