Origin: 1940–45; < F, special use of maquis, makis wild, bushy land < It (Corsican dial.) macchie (with F -is for -ie), pl. of macchia a thicket < L macula spot
1858, from Fr., "undergrowth, shrub," esp. in ref. to the dense scrub of certain Mediterranean coastal regions, long the haunts of outlaws and fugitives, from It. macchia "spot," from L. macula "spot, stain;" the landscapes from their mottled appearance. Used figuratively of Fr. resistance in World War II (1944).
[mah-kee, ma-; Fr. ma-kee] 
