Link Centre Dictionary

mahogany

ma·ho·gany

UK/məˈhɒɡəni/ US/məˈhɑɡəni/ uncommon obsolete

noun

1.

wood of any of various mahogany trees; much used for cabinetwork and furniture

2.

any of various tropical timber trees of the family Meliaceae especially the genus Swietinia valued for their hard yellowish- to reddish-brown wood that is readily worked and takes a high polish

Synonyms

Origin

A word of unknown origin, concocted in either English or Middle Dutch from one or more exotic phytonyms and common European words. alternative etymologies 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.

Phrases

  • African mahogany
  • African scented mahogany
  • American mahogany
  • Australian mahogany
  • bastard mahogany
  • below the mahogany
  • birch leaf mahogany
  • birch-leaf mahogany

Related words

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Broader terms

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Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.