magnolia

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin Magnolia, the scientific name of the genus,^[2][3][4][5] from Magnolius, the Latinized name of Pierre Magnol (1638–1715), a French botanist,^[2][4][6] professor of botany at Montpellier,^[6][5][7] with the suffix -ia.^[5][8][9] The OED and Etymonline credit the name to Charles Plumier, who used it in 1703,^[2][6] while Barnhart says Linnaeus coined it.^[4] Weekley compares fuchsia and dahlia, also named after botanists.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A tree or shrub of the genus Magnolia: 1748, in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.^[2][4] Barnhart calls it an American English adoption.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word passed from the plant to its flower (1822)^[2] and briefly to the aromatic bark used in medicine (1857).^[2] Because the trees were popular on old plantations, Merriam-Webster records magnolia as an adjective for things that recall the South before the Civil War.^[9] In the 20th century it became a colour name for the pale off-white of the blossom: Etymonline finds it by 1931, the OED records the adjective from 1941 and the noun from 1963,^[6][2] and in Britain it is a common name for an off-white paint.^[10]

Timeline

• 1703 – the genus name Magnolia, in Plumier's Nova Plantarum Americanarum Genera.^[2]
• 1748 – a magnolia tree.^[2][4]
• 1822 – the flower of a magnolia.^[2]
• 1857 – the medicinal bark of magnolia trees (obsolete).^[2]
• 1931 – the pale pinkish colour of the blossom, in Etymonline's dating.^[6] The OED has the adjective from 1941 and the noun from 1963.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tree or shrub of the genus Magnolia, native to Asia and North America, grown for its large showy white, pink, purple or yellow flowers.^[10][9][2]
2. The flower of such a tree.^[10][2]
3. A very pale pinkish-white or creamy off-white colour.^[10][2]

Adjective

1. Of the colour of magnolia blossom; off-white.^[2][10]
2. Recalling the Old South of the United States before the Civil War.^[9]

Word family

• mountain magnolia
• magnolia warbler

References

1. ^ a b 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins