Today’s Spanish word of the day is “mensaje”.
It’s a masculine noun meaning “message”, and can refer to written, spoken and electronic messages.
A few specific types of message include the following:
- Mensaje de cumpleaños – Birthday message
- Mensaje de texto – Text message
- Mensaje de voz – Voicemail/voice message
- Mensaje oculto – Hidden message
It comes from Latin missaticum, derived from mittere (to send), which is also the root of words like “missile” and “mission”.
The word “mensaje” comes from Old Occitan messatge, which ultimately derived from combining the Latin word missus (“a sending” or “dispatching”) with the suffix –atge. The English word “message” also comes from this Latin root, only via Old French rather than Old Occitan (a language spoken in southern France in the Middle Ages.
Example sentences
Te dejé un mensaje en el buzón de voz.
I left you a message in your voicemail.
¿Recibiste mi mensaje?
Did you get my message?
El mensaje de la película es muy poderoso.
The message of the movie is very powerful.
Los mensajes no siempre necesitan palabras.
Messages don’t always need words.
Escribí un mensaje que nunca envié.
I wrote a message I never sent.
