mango
Americannoun
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mangoes,
plural
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mangos
plural
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the oblong, sweet fruit of a tropical tree, Mangifera indica, of the cashew family, eaten ripe, or preserved or pickled.
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the tree itself.
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Midland U.S. chiefly the Ohio Valley. a sweet pepper.
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Ornithology. any of several large hummingbirds of the genus Anthracothorax.
noun
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a tropical Asian anacardiaceous evergreen tree, Mangifera indica, cultivated in the tropics for its fruit
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the ovoid edible fruit of this tree, having a smooth rind and sweet juicy orange-yellow flesh
Usage
What is a mango? A mango is a tropical fruit that grows from the Mangifera indica tree. The word mango is also sometimes used to refer to this species of tree. Mangoes have smooth rinds and soft, sweet flesh that surrounds a relatively large seed. Unripe mangoes are usually green in color and change to yellow, orange, red, purple, or a combination of colors as they ripen. Mangoes are high in vitamin C and contain a variety of other vitamins and minerals. There are hundreds of different varieties of mangoes grown around the world. They vary widely in flavor, ripening season, geographic region, seed-to-flesh ratio, and many other aspects. Many connoisseurs consider some of the Pakistani varieties to be the best. Example: Alya will tell you that you’re eating a mango properly when you’re slurping it up and the juice is running down your arm.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of mango
1575–85; < Portuguese manga, probably < Malayalam māṅṅa
Explanation
A mango is a sweet tropical fruit, and it's also the name of the trees on which the fruit grows. Ripe mangoes are juicy, fleshy, and delicious. Like peaches and plums, mangoes have an inedible pit at the center. Unlike these other fruits, the skin of a mango is very tough and also inedible. Mangoes grow in the warm climate of South Asia, and are the official nationalal fruit of Pakistan, India, and the Philippines. This tasty fruit was first imported to North America in the 17th century in a pickled form. Mango comes from the Tamil word mankay, "mango tree fruit."
Vocabulary lists containing mango
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
An initial deal between the warring sides announced by Pakistan this week has come too late for this mango season, which began in June in southern Sindh province.
From Barron's ● Jun. 21, 2026
Examples include my everyday chana masala, sheet-pan chicken & veggies and chicken tacos, complete with homemade Mexican rice, pico de gallo, guacamole and a spicy mango salsa.
From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2026
The findings provide practical guidance for the mango industry and cold-chain logistics systems.
From Science Daily ● May 23, 2026
Finally, you can never go wrong with Porto’s, which sells an array of cakes including chocolate raspberry, Parisian chocolate, mango mousse, strawberry cheesecake and more.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
Each day, Father Monaghan finds some modicum of peace in nature: the singing of morning birds, the distant crowing of roosters, the sun shining through mango trees.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
"I am seeing everywhere that there are very good mangoes, but people are still not able to buy them," he said.
From Barron's ● Jun. 21, 2026
As we walked past bustling street markets selling mangoes, clothes, footwear and vegetables to meet siblings Abhishek and Kajal, a dust storm appeared on the horizon.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
With a smartphone strapped to her head, Indian housewife Nagireddy Sriramyachandra films herself slicing mangoes to train AI-powered robots to take on household jobs in the future.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
At one of the proposed sites, farmers like Pyla Kondamma who have grown mangoes and cashews for 50 years are being forced out by the local government to make room.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
As though he was choosing mangoes from a basket.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
Whole fruits included apples, oranges, bananas, mangos, grapes, pears, melons, strawberries and peaches.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026
He and his wife, Angèle Bernadette Guèdègbé, live behind security walls in a three-story house on a dirt road where vendors hawk mangos, onions and gasoline.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
The five substances targeted include the fungicides mancozebe, thiophanate-methyl, carbendazim and benomyl, used on produce ranging from avocados and mangos to wheat and soybeans.
From Barron's ● Jan. 7, 2026
The Deluxe Fresh Fruit Basket includes quite the assortment, from Royal Riviera pears to mangos, pineapple, kiwi, apples, baby bananas, and even an avocado.
From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2025
“But maybe one day we’ll both get to taste mangos in India and Cuba!”
From "Lucky Broken Girl" by Ruth Behar
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
