mahogany

Meaning

Noun

1. (uncountable) The valuable wood of any of various tropical American evergreen trees, of the genus Swietenia, mostly used to make furniture.
2. (countable) Any of the trees from which such wood comes.
3. (countable) (by extension) Any of various trees which resemble those of the genus Swietenia.
4. (countable, regional, uncountable) A Cornish drink made from gin and treacle.
5. (countable, uncountable) A reddish-brown color, like that of mahogany wood.
6. (colloquial, countable, obsolete, uncountable) A table made from mahogany wood; a dining table.

Adj

1. Made of mahogany.
2. Having the colour of mahogany; dark reddish-brown.

Synonyms

mahogany tree

burnt sienna

acajou

sepia

reddish brown

Venetian red

oak

redwood

rubiginous

russet

mahogany rot

terra-cotta

tree

🌳

annatto

red sandal wood

reddish-brown

West Indian mahogany

Swietinia

coca

maple

moth

Translations

caoba

acajou

mogano

mogno

Mahagoni

caoba

mahonie

Mahagonibaum

μαόνι

maun

mahoniehout

ερυθρόξυλο

Pronounced as (IPA)

/məˈhɒɡəni/

Etymology

A word of unknown origin, concocted in either English or Middle Dutch from one or more exotic phytonyms and common European words.
Alternatively from Portuguese mogano, mógono, obsolete forms of mogno, itself of unknown origin (often suggested to be from the English word instead of the reverse), perhaps from an extinct indigenous language, such as a Mayan language originally spoken in Honduras or a South American language, but no known cognates survive. Another theory attempts to link Yoruba moganwo (“trees”, literally “tall ones”), but this has been criticized.