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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

banana.

An elongated curved tropical fruit of a banana plant, which grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin.

6 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/bəˈnɑːnə/British, Northern-England, Received-Pronunciation, Southern, Standard, Wales/bəˈnænə/General-American/bəˈnɐːnə/Australia, New-Zealand/bəˈnanə/Scotland
  1. An elongated curved tropical fruit of a banana plant, which grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin.

    countable · uncountable
    Jimmy had a banana for breakfast.
  2. An elongated curved tropical fruit of a banana plant, which grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin. In particular, the sweet, yellow fruit of the Cavendish banana cultivar, which may be eaten raw, as distinct from e.g. a plantain for cooking.

    Canada · Ireland · UK · US · countable · uncountable
  3. The tropical tree-like plant which bears clusters of bananas, a plant of the genus Musa (but sometimes also including plants from Ensete), which has large, elongated leaves.

    countable · uncountable
  4. A yellow color, like that of a banana's skin.

    uncountable
  5. A person of East or Southeast Asian descent, considered to be overly assimilated and subservient to white authority.

    countable · derogatory · ethnic · slur · uncountable
  6. A person of Chinese descent who cannot speak Mandarin or any Chinese dialect

    Malaysia · Singapore · countable · derogatory · ethnic · slur · uncountable
  7. The penis.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  8. A banana kick.

    countable · uncountable
  9. A banana equivalent dose.

    countable · uncountable
  10. A catamorphism (from the use of banana brackets in the notation).

    colloquial · countable · uncountable
  11. An incorrectly held handstand, often seen in beginners.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Portuguese banana or Spanish banana, derived from a Niger-Congo language spoken in the Guinea region. Specific derivation is unclear. Possible ancestor or cognate languages include Wolof banaana, Eastern Maninkakan banana, and Vai ꕒꘌꕯ (ɓaana) or ꕒꕌꕯ (ɓaana), possibly from Arabic بَنَان (banān, “fingertip, banana”). However, Ay Baati Wolof (Munro & Gaye, 1997) posits that Wolof banaana is itself derived from Portuguese banana. The racial slur derives from the notion that they are “Yellow (East-Asian) on the outside, but White (Westernized) on the inside”.

adj/bəˈnɑːnə/British, Northern-England, Received-Pronunciation, Southern, Standard, Wales/bəˈnænə/General-American/bəˈnɐːnə/Australia, New-Zealand/bəˈnanə/Scotland
  1. Curved like a banana, especially of a ball in flight.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Portuguese banana or Spanish banana, derived from a Niger-Congo language spoken in the Guinea region. Specific derivation is unclear. Possible ancestor or cognate languages include Wolof banaana, Eastern Maninkakan banana, and Vai ꕒꘌꕯ (ɓaana) or ꕒꕌꕯ (ɓaana), possibly from Arabic بَنَان (banān, “fingertip, banana”). However, Ay Baati Wolof (Munro & Gaye, 1997) posits that Wolof banaana is itself derived from Portuguese banana. The racial slur derives from the notion that they are “Yellow (East-Asian) on the outside, but White (Westernized) on the inside”.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.