mahogany

/məˈhɑgəni/

/məˈhɒgəni/

Other forms: mahoganies

Mahogany is a dark, reddish-brown wood that comes from a tree also called a mahogany. You can also use this word for the color itself. A fancy dining room table might be made of mahogany.

If your best friend has rich brown hair with red highlights, feel free to compliment her on her mahogany locks. This color's name comes from mahogany timber, sturdy wood that's used to make high-end furniture, boats, and musical instruments, including guitars. The mahogany tree only grows in tropical regions, including parts of South America, Florida, and the West Indies. The word comes from the Spanish mahogani.

Definitions of mahogany

1. noun

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

   Philippine mahogany

   red hardwood of the Philippine mahogany tree used for cigar boxes and interior finish

   cigar-box cedar

   fragrant wood much used for cigar boxes

   type of:

   wood

   the hard fibrous lignified substance under the bark of trees
2. noun

   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: mahogany tree

   types:

   Cedrela odorata, Spanish cedar, Spanish cedar tree

   tropical American tree yielding fragrant wood used especially for boxes

   African scented mahogany, Entandrophragma cylindricum, cedar mahogany, sapele mahogany

   African tree having rather lightweight cedar-scented wood varying in color from pink to reddish brown

   African mahogany

   African tree having hard heavy odorless wood

   Cuban mahogany, Dominican mahogany, Swietinia mahogani, true mahogany

   mahogany tree of West Indies

   Honduras mahogany, Swietinia macrophylla

   an important Central American mahogany tree

   Cedrela calantas, Philippine cedar, Philippine mahogany, Toona calantas, kalantas

   Philippine timber tree having hard red fragrant wood

   hardtack

   a mountain mahogany

   type of:

   tree

   a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms
3. noun

   a shade of brown with a tinge of red
   synonyms: Venetian red, burnt sienna, reddish brown, sepia

   types:

   brick red

   a bright reddish-brown color

   copper, copper color

   a reddish-brown color resembling the color of polished copper

   Indian red

   a reddish-brown color resembling the red soil used as body paint by American Indians

   type of:

   brown, brownness

   an orange of low brightness and saturation