Informal plural of magazine, referring to periodical publications containing articles, stories, photographs, and advertisements.
Shortened form of 'magazines,' which comes from French 'magasin' meaning storehouse or shop, from Arabic 'makhāzin' (storehouses). The publishing sense developed in the 18th century from the idea of a storehouse of information.
The word 'mags' perfectly captures how language evolves through casual use - what started as a formal Arabic term for storehouses became the breezy way millennials refer to glossy publications. Interestingly, the original Arabic root also gave us the word 'magazine' in the military sense (ammunition storage).
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