means The craft of building structures from individual units—stone, brick, or concrete block—bound together with mortar, or the resulting stonework itself.

from From Old French 'maçonerie,' from 'maçon' (a stoneworker), which entered English via Norman French after 1066. The deeper root is debated: it may trace to a Frankish word related to Old High German 'steinmezzo' (stonemason), or possibly to a Late Latin form 'matio'/'machio.' Either way, the trail runs back to the people who shaped stone for a living—and 'mason' eventually lent its name to the secretive fraternal order of Freemasons, who borrowed the trade's tools as symbols.