Magazine: The Word That Began as a Storeroom

A magazine is a regular publication full of articles and pictures, and the word first meant a storehouse.

What Does Magazine Mean?

A magazine is a publication full of articles, stories and pictures that comes out regularly, often every week or every month.

I read a magazine about space on the train.
Our school magazine has a puzzle page.

It is a noun. Each new edition is called an issue.

🔊 Pronunciation

MAG-uh-zeen or mag-uh-ZEEN

Both stress patterns are common. The end sounds like seen, even though it is spelled -zine. The middle part is quiet, like the uh in sofa.

🗣️ Natural Examples

Mia reads a magazine about dinosaurs on Saturdays.
Dad's magazine came in the post today.
Our class made a magazine with jokes and drawings.
There was a pile of old magazines in the waiting room.

🛠️ How to Use It

Magazine is a countable noun: one magazine, two magazines. It is an everyday, neutral word.

You read, flip through or subscribe to a magazine.
An article appears in a magazine.
A magazine can be printed or online: an online magazine.
A magazine usually has a topic, like science, sport or cooking.

👯 Similar and Related Words

newspaper: printed news, usually every day or week, on large thin sheets. A magazine is usually thicker and focuses on a topic.
journal: a serious publication for experts, or a personal diary.
comic: a magazine of picture stories.
newsletter: a short regular message from a school or club.
periodical: a formal word for anything published regularly.

⚠️ Common Mistakes

Spelling. The end is -zine, even though it sounds like seen.
❌ magazin, magazene
✅ magazine

Say in a magazine.
❌ I saw her photo on a magazine.
✅ I saw her photo in a magazine.

It is countable.
❌ I bought three magazine.
✅ I bought three magazines.

💬 In a Conversation

Leo: Why is a magazine called a magazine?
Mia: The word first meant a storeroom.
Leo: A storeroom?
Mia: A place where things are stored. A magazine stores stories and pictures.
Leo: Then mine is very full. It has forty pages of dogs.

🕵️ Where Does It Come From?

The word has travelled a long way.

It began in Arabic as makhzan, "storehouse". The plural is makhazin, and the root means "to store up".
Italian borrowed it as magazzino, and French took it from Italian as magasin, a "warehouse" or "store". In modern French, magasin means a shop.
English took it in the 1580s, first for a storehouse of goods, especially military supplies. That meaning is now rare.
By the 1630s, writers used it figuratively for a "storehouse" of information, such as a book that holds a lot of knowledge.
In 1731, a publication called the Gentleman's Magazine used the word for a regular collection of articles. The idea stuck.

💡 The OddLingo Trick

Open a magazine like you would open a storeroom door.

The shelves are the pages. They are stacked with stories, pictures and ideas, and the word has meant "storeroom" for centuries.