banana

Etymology

From Wolof banaana, via Spanish or Portuguese.

Four different types of bananas. The larger yellow bananas on the far right are commercially dominant Cavendish bananas.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: bə-näʹnə, IPA^(key): /bəˈnɑːnə/
• (General American) enPR: bə-năʹnə, IPA^(key): /bəˈnænə/

• Audio (UK)

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• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɑːnə, -ænə
• Hyphenation: ba‧nana

Noun

banana (countable and uncountable, plural bananas)

1. An elongated curved tropical fruit that grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin.
   1. (Canada, US, Britain, Ireland) Especially, the sweet, yellow fruit of the Cavendish banana cultivar.
2. The tropical tree-like plant which bears clusters of bananas. The plant, usually of the genus Musa but sometimes also including plants from Ensete, has large, elongated leaves and is related to the plantain.
3. (uncountable) A yellow colour, like that of a banana's skin.

   Pantone banana colour:  

4. (mildly pejorative, slang, ethnic slur) A person of Asian descent, especially a Chinese American, who has assimilated into Western culture or married a Caucasian (from the "yellow" outside and "white" inside). Compare coconut (“assimilated Hispanic or Black”) or Oreo (“Black person who is "black outside" and "white inside"”).
5. (nuclear physics) A banana equivalent dose.
6. (colloquial) A catamorphism (from the use of banana brackets in the notation).

Adjective

banana (not comparable)

1. Curved like a banana, especially of a ball in flight.
   • 2001, Rayne Barton, The Green Hills Golf Chronicles, page 155, →ISBN.

     Even the lowly banana ball, the bane of so many weekenders, sometimes can be exactly right, as in this case.

   • 2002, Andrew Collins, Guild of Honor, page 53, →ISBN.

     He played the fading, low-banana shot as planned, and the ball whistled left of the oak tree and between the pines.

   • 2006, Richard Witzig, The Global Art of Soccer, page 247, →ISBN.

     [...]Bernd Schneider closed the scoring in injury-time with a 23 meter free-kick banana shot into the upper-right corner.

Anagrams

• Annaba

Noun

banana f (plural bananes)

1. banana (fruit)

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /bəˈna.nə/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /baˈna.na/

Noun

banana f (plural bananes)

1. banana (fruit)

Further reading

• “banana” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Pronunciation

• (Revived Middle Cornish) IPA^(key): [baˈnaːna]
• (Revived Late Cornish) IPA^(key): [bəˈnæːnɐ]

Noun

banana m (plural bananas)

1. banana

Verb

banana

1. third-person singular past historic of bananer

Noun

banana f (plural bananas)

1. banana (fruit)

Noun

banana

1. definite accusative plural of bani

Etymology

From Wolof banaana.

Noun

banana m (genitive singular banana, nominative plural bananaí)

1. banana

Mutation

Further reading

• "banana" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.

Noun

banana f (plural banane)

1. banana (fruit)

Noun

banana m (invariable)

1. banana (color)

Adjective

banana (invariable)

1. banana

Related terms

• banano

Romanization

banana

1. Rōmaji transcription of バナナ

Etymology

From Wolof banaana.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baˈnana/

Noun

banana f

1. banana

References

• banana in Manfred Starosta (1999): Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch. Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag.

Noun

banana f

1. banana

Etymology

Uncertain. Possibly from Wolof banaana (“banana”) or Arabic بَنَان‎ (banān, “fingertip, banana”).

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /bɐˈnɐnɐ/

Noun

banana f (plural bananas)

1. banana (fruit)

   Bananas são ricas em potássio ― Bananas are high in potassium

2. banana (plant)

   Synonym: bananeira (more common)

3. (informal) penis
4. (Brazil, informal) bras d'honneur (obscene gesture)

   Synonym: manguito (Portugal)

Noun

banana m, f (plural bananas)

1. (pejorative, slang) wimp (a weak or inconfident person)

   Aquele rapaz é um banana! ― That guy is a wimp!

Noun

banana f

1. definite singular nominative and accusative form of banană.

Etymology

From Spanish, from Portuguese, from Wolof banaana.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /banǎːna/
• Hyphenation: ba‧na‧na

Noun

banána f (Cyrillic spelling бана́на)

1. banana

References

• “banana” in Hrvatski jezični portal

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baˈnana/

Noun

banana f (plural bananas)

1. banana (fruit)

Further reading

• “banana” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

Etymology

From English banana.

Noun

banana

1. banana
   • 1995, John Verhaar, Toward a reference grammar of Tok Pisin: an experiment in corpus linguistics‎, →ISBN, page 433:

     Mekim olsem pinis, orait tupela i planim taro na banana, na kumu, painap, kon, tomato, na kaukau tu.

Etymology

From English banana, from Wolof banaana, via Portuguese and/or Spanish.

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /baˈnana/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /baˈnaːna/, /baˈnana/

Noun

banana f (plural bananas)

1. banana

Synonyms

• ffrwchnedd

Mutation