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The word '''Mass''' is the general designation in western Christianity, particularly in the [[Roman Catholic Church]], for the Holy Eucharistic or Eucharistic Sacrifice, the equivalent of the phrase '''[[Divine Liturgy]]''' used by Orthodox Christians.
The term Mass is derived from the late-Latin word ''missa'' (dismissal), a word used in the concluding formula of Mass in Latin: ''te, missa est'' ("Go; it is the dismissal"), and came into use in the [[Church of Rome]] in the fourth century. The form in English progressed from ''maesse'' before William the Conquerer’s conquest of England to ''messe'' or ''masse'' in Middle English.