Etymology

mangrove

man·grove
M3A1N1G2R1O1V4E1

Today it means: Any of various tropical and subtropical evergreen shrubs or trees chiefly of the Rhizophoraceae family that have aerial roots and grow in clumps in brackish intertidal coastal areas; (specifically) any of various trees of the genus Rhizophora, especially the red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle). Full definition →

First used early 17th c.Spanish mangle
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Spanish · derived frommangle
  2. English todaymangrove

A modification of earlier mangrowe (obsolete) by the influence of grove (“small forest”) through folk etymology. Mangrowe is probably borrowed from Spanish mangle, mangue (whence English mangle) (probably from an Arawak language (such as Taíno), or a Cariban language) + an unknown word ending.

Words from the same roots

Spanishmangle all →

mangle

First known use, by meaning

  • from early 17th c. Any of various tropical and subtropical evergreen shrubs or trees chiefly of the Rhizophoraceae family that have aerial roots and grow in clumps in brackish intertidal coastal areas; (specifically) any of various trees of the genus Rhizophora, especially the red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.