moustache
Americannoun
noun
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the unshaved growth of hair on the upper lip, and sometimes down the sides of the mouth
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a similar growth of hair or bristles (in animals) or feathers (in birds)
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a mark like a moustache
Other Word Forms
- moustached adjective
Etymology
Origin of moustache
C16: via French from Italian mostaccio, ultimately from Doric Greek mustax upper lip
Explanation
A moustache is hair that grows between a person's nose and mouth. Some moustaches are as thin as a pencil line, while others are bushy and full. Salvador Dali was known for his long, curled moustache. If you're trying to grow a moustache, you might start by shaving all your facial hair except the strands that grow above your upper lip. When your moustache becomes luxuriant and ample, you can trim it with scissors and style it with moustache wax. The word moustache (also spelled mustache comes from the French moustache, which has a Greek root, mystax, "upper lip."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Visit Bogota and it's hard to miss the Rappi bikes with bright orange bags featuring a moustache motif whizzing around the city dropping deliveries off.
From BBC • Mar. 19, 2026
Bellowing "Silence, everyone!" to terrified parliamentarians, the man with a bushy moustache and shiny tricorn quickly caught the public's attention in an image engraved on the nation's collective memory.
From Barron's • Feb. 25, 2026
At 82, the former electrician with his legendary handlebar moustache is still receiving visitors in an office at the heart of the former Gdansk shipyards.
From Barron's • Feb. 23, 2026
Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, was one of the US's most famous wrestling stars, known for his flowing blond hair and handlebar moustache.
From BBC • Dec. 31, 2025
He was mumbling bits and pieces of sentences through his yellowing moustache.
From "The Stranger" by Albert Camus
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
