Abstract: We consider electroweak gauge boson corrections to the masses of pseudoscalar mesons to next to leading order in alpha s and 1/NC. The pion mass shift induced by the Z boson is shown to be m pi +/- – m pi 0 = -0.00201(12) MeV. While being small compared to the electromagnetic mass shift, the prediction lies about a factor of similar to 4 above the precision of the current experimental measurement and a factor O(10) below the precision of current lattice calculations. This motivates future implementations of these electroweak gauge boson effects on the lattice. Finally, we consider beyond standard model contributions to the pion mass difference.