mustache

American  

[muhs-tash, muh-stash] / ˈmʌs tæʃ, məˈstæʃ /

Or moustache

noun

• mustaches
  plural

1. the hair growing on the upper lip

2. such hair on men, allowed to grow without shaving, and often trimmed in any of various shapes.

3. hairs or bristles growing near the mouth of an animal.

4. a stripe of color, or elongated feathers, suggestive of a mustache on the side of the head of a bird.

5. something resembling a mustache, as food or drink adhering to the upper lip.

   a mustache of milk.

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mustache British  

/ məˈstɑːʃ /

noun

1. the US spelling of moustache

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• mustached
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• mustaches
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of mustache

1575–85; < Middle French moustache < Italian mostaccio; see mustachio

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Explanation

A mustache is hair that grows between a person's nose and mouth. Some mustaches are as thin as a pencil line, while others are bushy and full. Salvador Dali was known for his long, curled mustache. If you're trying to grow a mustache, you might start by shaving all your facial hair except the strands that grow above your upper lip. When your mustache becomes luxuriant and ample, you can trim it with scissors and style it with mustache wax. The word mustache comes from the French moustache, which has a Greek root, mystax, "upper lip."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mustache mustaches

There have been, it seems, a thousand flashes in the pan: Beto O’Rourke’s rolled-up shirtsleeves, Anthony Weiner’s city-kid mouthiness, Graham Platner’s stupid little butch mustache.

From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2026

He had put on a bit of weight and had a full beard and thick handlebar mustache, a look typical for RVC fighters inspired by Russian counter-revolutionaries from 1917.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

I seem to be happier with my mustache.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026

Zaidi, who dresses in dark blue suits and has a bushy black mustache and cropped beard, was quickly embraced by Washington.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

How could he fail to recognize the actor’s familiar, thick black hair, pale complexion, trademark mustache, and striking good looks?

From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson

In something of an irony, Lotus’s historic approach to cornering and traction management—crossed up, tail out, mustaches ablaze—looks a lot like what the kids call drifting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026

Of course, there is something absurd about celebrity chefs needing fake mustaches, prosthetics or entire undercover personas to determine that a restaurant is poorly run.

From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026

Some of the women donned fake mustaches that mimicked Rome’s as they all toyed with possible explanations for what they had found.

From Science Magazine ● Jun. 6, 2024

The other amateur Thespians, wearing comic stick-on mustaches, moved to their marks, improvising a scene in a women’s beauty salon where one patron’s hair is accidentally dyed blue.

From New York Times ● Jun. 3, 2024

They look like the heads of mannequins, only more skillfully fashioned, three with mustaches, two bald, one wearing the cap of a soldier.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

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