ebony

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2] Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage Dictionary take it as probably inherited from Middle English hebenyf (“ebony wood”) in altered form, a word recorded in the Wycliffite Bible of about 1384,^[3][4][5] which Barnhart and Etymonline take as borrowed from Late Latin hebeninus (“of ebony”), perhaps through a misreading of the Latin word.^[5][6] The Latin adjective is from Ancient Greek ἐβένινος (ebéninos), from ἔβενος (ébenos, “ebony tree”),^[4][5][6][7] which is probably from Egyptian hbnj or another Semitic source.^[6][8][4] The Oxford dictionaries instead link it with ebon, perhaps on the pattern of ivory;^[9][10][11] the revised OED notes that ebony and ebon are often paired for their value and contrasting colour, and that a borrowing from Latin is less likely because the noun is recorded long before the adjective.^[2] Ebon is from Old French eban, from Latin ebenus, from the same Greek word.^[11][8][6] From Latin ebenus also come ébène and Old High German ebenus, whence Ebenholz.^[6][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The hard dark wood of tropical trees: about 1384, as hebenyf, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[5][2] The spelling ebony is first recorded in 1597.^[5][3][6]

Semantic evolution

Ayto notes that English at first used the French form, which survived as the archaism ebon, and that forms ending in -y began to replace it in the 16th century.^[8][11] From 1589 the word also named a black or very dark brown colour,^[2] and Etymonline dates its figurative use for intense blackness to the 1620s.^[6] The adjective, "made of ebony", is recorded from 1597,^[2][6] and "very black" from 1736.^[2] Ebony and ivory were valued and contrasted for their colours, so that by 1881 ebonies were the black keys of a piano.^[2] From the early 19th century the word was applied to black people: the adjective by 1813–1817 and the noun from 1830, first in the United States;^[2][6] the OED calls this use colloquial and offensive outside black usage.^[2] Slang used it in the same way from 1801, with son of ebony for a black man.^[13][2]

Timeline

• c. 1384 – hebenyf, ebony wood, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[5][2]
• 1589 – a black or very dark brown colour.^[2]
• 1592 – a tree that yields ebony.^[2]
• 1597 – the form ebony; adjective, made of ebony.^[5][2][3]
• 1661 – the dark wood of other trees.^[2]
• 1736 – adjective, deep black.^[2]
• 1830 – in the United States, a black person.^[2]
• 1848 – ebony and ivory, black and white people together.^[2]
• 1881 – ebonies, the black keys of a piano.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The hard, heavy, dark wood of various tropical trees of the genus Diospyros, used for carving, cabinetwork and musical instruments: a chess set carved from ebony.^[7][3][2]
2. A tree that yields this wood.^[7][3][2]
3. The wood of other trees that resembles it, as green ebony.^[3][2]
4. A very dark, almost black colour.^[7][3][2]

Adjective

1. Made of ebony: an ebony walking stick.^[3][2]
2. Very dark; black: her ebony hair.^[7][3][2]

Word family

• ebonist
• ebonize

Related words

• ebon
• Ebonics
• ebonite

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com