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mahogany

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

8 characters

Language

English

word origin

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "mahogany", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "mahogany" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "mahogany" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

mahogany is aEnglishnoun. It means: The valuable wood of any of various tropical American evergreen trees, of the genus Swietenia, mostly used to make furniture. Pronounced /məˈhɒɡəni/.

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Key facts for mahogany
PropertyValue
Headwordmahogany
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/məˈhɒɡəni/
Letters8
Frequency rank#19,890
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of mahogany in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for mahogany is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /məˈhɒɡəni/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,890 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 12 documented wrong-spelling variants for mahogany, with forms such as "amhogany", "mahgoany", and "mahhogany". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: 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… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is mahogany, spelled M-A-H-O-G-A-N-Y, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

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

Etymology

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.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: amhogany,mahgoany,mahhogany,mahoagny,mahoganny,mahoganyy,mahogayn,mahoggany,mahognay,maohgany,mhaogany,mmahogany

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for mahogany

Misspelling Variants of "mahogany"

amhogany8mahgoany8mahhogany9mahoagny8mahoganny9mahoganyy9mahogayn8mahoggany9
Misspelling Variants of "mahogany"

Frequency rank: #19,890 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "mahogany"?
"mahogany" is spelled M-A-H-O-G-A-N-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /məˈhɒɡəni/.
What does "mahogany" mean?
As a noun, "mahogany" means: The valuable wood of any of various tropical American evergreen trees, of the genus Swietenia, mostly used to make furniture.
What are common misspellings of "mahogany"?
Common misspellings include "amhogany", "mahgoany", "mahhogany", "mahoagny", "mahoganny". The correct spelling is "mahogany".
How do you pronounce "mahogany"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mahogany" is /məˈhɒɡəni/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "mahogany"?
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 ori... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter M in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.