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The name of the fruit plum goes back to Old English. During the 18th century, the word plum became a delectable ingredient in the language. The word for the sweet, juicy fruit denoted such things as a fortune of 100,000 pounds, a rich person, and, by the early 19th century, anything desirable. The related adjective plummy blossomed in the early 18th century with the meaning "full of plums" and had branched out as an adjective for desirable things by the century's end. By the 19th century, it was being used to describe rich, mellow voices. The sweetness of the word did eventually sour, however, when people began to use it to describe stilted or affected speech, as in "the teacher used a plummy voice when he talked to the students' parents."
Examples of plummy in a Sentence
Ariel Wodarcyk,
InStyle,
9 Jan. 2026
The shade lineup spans 10 options, ranging from pale lilac to rosy pink to plummy burgundy, all inspired by NYC sunsets.
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Karina Hoshikawa,
Refinery29,
16 Sep. 2025
At one point, Melanie Field, who plays Sonya, mocks the plummy British sound of Bonneville’s Vanya.
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Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
19 Mar. 2025
The land surrounding the estate, once a rich source of Piedmont’s dry Barbaresco and plummy Barbera wines, could be planted with enough new vines to produce around 100,000 bottles a year.
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Zoë Dare Hall,
Forbes,
30 Sep. 2024
See All Example Sentences for plummy
Cite this Entry
“Plummy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plummy. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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