Mango
/ˈmæŋ.ɡoʊ/ · noun
A sweet, fleshy tropical stone fruit, beloved across the world.
Mango comes from the Tamil / Malayalam (via Portuguese) māngāy, meaning “mango fruit (mān, the mango tree + kāy, unripe fruit).” The word “mango” sailed from South India to Europe on Portuguese ships, from the Tamil māngāy.
The mango is native to South Asia, and so is its name. English “mango” traces back through Portuguese manga to the languages of southern India — the Tamil māngāy and the closely related Malayalam māṅṅa. In Tamil the word combines mān, the mango tree, with kāy, meaning unripe fruit, describing the green mango picked from the tree.
When Portuguese traders reached the Malabar Coast of India in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, they encountered the fruit and borrowed the local word, rendering it as manga. The Portuguese were pivotal in spreading both the fruit and its name: they carried mango along their trade routes to Africa, Brazil and beyond, and the word entered European languages in their wake.
English picked up “mango” by the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. For a time the word even became a verb in some regions — “to mango” meant to pickle — because unripe mangoes were so commonly preserved that “mango” briefly came to mean any pickled fruit or vegetable in parts of the English-speaking world.
Today the mango is one of the most widely grown fruits on the planet, and its name is recognised almost everywhere. Yet it still carries, in two short syllables, the memory of the South Indian orchards where it was first named — and the sea voyages that carried that name around the globe.
The journey through time
- Tamilancient
māngāy — mango fruit (tree + unripe fruit)
- Malayalammedieval
māṅṅa — mango
- Portuguesec. 1500s
manga — the mango fruit
- Englishc. 1580s
mango — the tropical stone fruit
Did you know?
Because unripe mangoes were so often pickled, “to mango” once meant “to pickle” in older English — a vegetable could be “mango-ed.”
Related words
From the Tamil mānkāy — the fruit of the mango tree. Portuguese traders carried it out of Kerala, and the word sailed across every ocean until the whole world was saying it.
Watch the Mango etymology videoSources & further reading
Our etymologies are compiled and edited from established works of historical linguistics and lexicography. To dig deeper into the origin of “Mango,” these independent reference works are a great next step:
Frequently asked questions
Where does the word “Mango” come from?
“Mango” comes from the Tamil / Malayalam (via Portuguese) māngāy, meaning “mango fruit (mān, the mango tree + kāy, unripe fruit).” The word “mango” sailed from South India to Europe on Portuguese ships, from the Tamil māngāy.
What does “Mango” mean?
A sweet, fleshy tropical stone fruit, beloved across the world.
What language does “Mango” originate from?
Mango traces back to Tamil / Malayalam (via Portuguese), from the root māngāy (“mango fruit (mān, the mango tree + kāy, unripe fruit)”).
When did “Mango” first appear?
The earliest form dates to the Tamil (ancient), when it appeared as “māngāy” — mango fruit (tree + unripe fruit).
What is an interesting fact about “Mango”?
Because unripe mangoes were so often pickled, “to mango” once meant “to pickle” in older English — a vegetable could be “mango-ed.”
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