# banana
## English
### Etymology

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). 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."

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) enPR: bə-näʹnə, IPA: /bəˈnɑː.nə/
* (General American) enPR: bə-năʹnə, IPA: /bəˈnæ.nə/
* Audio (Received Pronunciation):(file)
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɑːnə, -ænə
* Hyphenation: ba‧na‧na

### Noun

banana (countable and uncountable, plural bananas)
* An elongated curved tropical fruit of a banana plant, which grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin. [from 1597]
** 2017, Sam Shepard, chapter 27, in Spy of the First Person, →ISBN, page 62:I'll need a few things. I'll need some mayonnaise and a silver tin of sardines, a banana.
** (Canada, US, UK, Ireland) 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.
* 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. [from 1697]
* (uncountable) A yellow color, like that of a banana's skin. [from 1923]
    banana:
* (derogatory, ethnic slur) A person of East or Southeast Asian descent, considered to be overly assimilated and subservient to white authority. [from 1970]
    Synonym: Twinkie
* (slang) The penis.
** 1986, Christopher Street, Cop Feels of Three Men's "Privates"‎, volume 10:The fact that the cop bought O'Brien a beer after feeling of his banana suggests that it must have been a promising one
** 2012, Sarah Miynowski, Fishbowl‎, page 36:His you-know-what turned soft .. his eight o'clock class was the last thing on his mind five minutes ago, when his banana wasn't overripe.
** 2014, Anthony Bunko, Lord Forgive Me‎, page 71:Most of the gang were trying their best to shag the girls. One boy was sitting in a tree playing with himself and another was asking a table of teenagers if they would like to see his banana.
** 2017, Intimate Relationships in Cinema, Literature and Visual Culture‎, page 234:He adds that after eating his banana (sucking his penis), he wants anal sex, but she asks him to lick her pussy. Then he tells her no because it is disgusting.
* (sports) A banana kick.
* (nuclear physics) A banana equivalent dose.
* (computer science, colloquial) A catamorphism (from the use of banana brackets in the notation).

#### Hypernyms

* (fruit): fruit
* (Asian assimilated into Western culture): race traitor

#### Hyponyms

* (Asian assimilated into Western culture): jook-sing

#### Coordinate terms

* (Asian assimilated into Western culture): egg, coconut, Oreo
* (fruit): finger, hand

#### Derived terms

* Abyssinian banana
* apple banana
* banana bag
* banana ball
* banana belt
* banana bender
* banana-bender
* banana bird
* banana boa
* banana boat
* banana bond
* banana box
* banana bread
* banana bus
* banana cake
* banana chair
* banana clip
* banana connector
* banana cue
* banana-ey
* banana fly
* banana fold
* banana freckle
* banana frog
* Bananagate
* bananageddon
* banana hammock
* bananahood
* banana ketchup
* banana knife
* Bananaland
* banana leaf
* bananaless
* banana-like
* bananalike
* banana lounge
* banana lounger
* banana melon
* banana money
* banana nose
* banana-nose
* banana note
* banana oil
* banana orbit
* banana paper
* banana passionfruit
* banana peel
* banana pepper
* bananaphile
* banana-phile
* bananaphobia
* banana phone
* banana plug
* banana pose
* banana pudding
* bananaquit
* banana republic
* banana roll
* bananas
* banana seat
* bananas Foster
* banana shallot
* banana-shaped
* banana shot
* banana skin
* banana slice
* banana slug
* banana solution
* banana spider
* banana split
* banana squash
* banana-y
* banana yucca
* bananery
* bananivorous
* bananoid
* bandango
* banilla
* banoffee
* banoffee pie
* bush banana
* Cavendish banana
* coconana
* don't buy green bananas
* false banana
* Flying Banana
* have one foot on a banana peel
* if you pay bananas, you get monkeys
* make like a banana and split
* nonbanana
* one-banana problem
* pink banana
* prairie banana
* red banana
* scarlet banana
* second banana
* snow banana
* strawbana
* textile banana
* top banana
* tough bananas

#### Translations
### Adjective

banana (not comparable)
* Curved like a banana, especially of a ball in flight.
** 2001, Rayne Barton, The Green Hills Golf Chronicles, →ISBN, page 155: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, →ISBN, page 53: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, →ISBN, page 247:[...]Bernd Schneider closed the scoring in injury-time with a 23 meter free-kick banana shot into the upper-right corner.

#### Hypernyms

* bunch
* hand
* Appendix:English collective nouns

#### See also

* bananas (adj)
* abaca
* coconut
* dining leaf
* matoke
* oreo
* plantain
* sinamay
* waragi
* Appendix:Colors

### References

* ↑ “banana, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
* ↑ “banana”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
* ↑ “banana”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
* ↑ “banana”, in Collins English Dictionary.
* ↑ S.W. Koelle (1854) Outlines of a Grammar of the Vei Language: Together with a Vei-English Vocabulary‎, London Church Missionary House, page 144
* ↑ Munro, Pamela, Gaye, Dieynaba (1997) Ay baati Wolof: A Wolof dictionary (UCLA Occasional Papers in Linguistics)‎, Los Angeles: Department of Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles, →OCLC, page 15

### Anagrams

* Annaba

## Asturian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /baˈnana/ [baˈna.na]
* Rhymes: -ana
* Syllabification: ba‧na‧na

### Noun

banana f (plural bananes)
* banana (fruit)
    Synonym: plátanu

## Catalan
### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [bəˈna.nə]
* IPA: (Valencia) [baˈna.na]
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

banana f (plural bananes)
* banana (fruit)
    Synonym: plàtan

#### Derived terms

* bananer

### Further reading

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

## Cornish
### Etymology

From English banana.

### Pronunciation

* (Revived Middle Cornish) IPA: [baˈnaːna]
* (Revived Late Cornish) IPA: [bəˈnæːnɐ]

### Noun

banana m (plural bananas)
* banana

### Mutation
## French
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Verb

banana
* third-person singular past historic of bananer (to make a mistake)

## Galician
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /baˈnana/ [baˈnã.nɐ]
* Rhymes: -ana
* Hyphenation: ba‧na‧na

### Noun

banana f (plural bananas)
* banana (fruit)
    Synonym: plátano
    Os chimpancés utilizan bastóns para coller unha banana.Chimpanzees use sticks to pick up a banana.

#### Related terms

* bananeira

### Further reading

* “banana”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

## Icelandic
### Pronunciation

* Rhymes: -aːnana

### Noun

banana
* definite accusative plural of bani
* inflection of banani:
** indefinite accusative
** indefinite dative singular
** indefinite genitive

## Irish
### Etymology

From Wolof banaana.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /bˠəˈn̪ˠan̪ˠə/

### Noun

banana m (genitive singular banana, nominative plural bananaí)
* banana

#### Declension

bare forms
singular
plural
nominative
banana
bananaí
vocative
a bhanana
a bhananaí
genitive
banana
bananaí
dative
banana
bananaí
forms with the definite article
singular
plural
nominative
an banana
na bananaí
genitive
an bhanana
na mbananaí
dative
leis an mbanana don bhanana
leis na bananaí :

#### Derived terms

* crann bananaí (“banana-tree”)

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

### Further reading

* Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “banana”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

## Italian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /baˈna.na/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ana
* Hyphenation: ba‧nà‧na

### Noun

banana f (plural banane)
* banana (fruit)

### Noun

banana m (invariable)
* banana (color)

### Adjective

banana (invariable)
* banana (color)

#### Related terms

* banano

## Japanese
### Romanization

banana
* Rōmaji transcription of バナナ

## Latin
### Noun

banana f (genitive bananae); first declension
* (New Latin) banana
    Synonyms: (Classical Latin, rare) ariēna, (Medieval Latin) mūsa
** 1619, Americæ pars undecima: Seu descriptio admirandi itineris a Guilielmo Schouten Hollando peracti: […], Oppenheim: Typis Hieronymi Galleri, page 41:Illi amicabiliter ad navem noſtram appellentes, tantum Cocorum ac Bananarum nobis obtulerunt numerum, ut quilibet in navi nuces 50. duos Bananarum corbes eo die lucraretur.(please add an English translation of this quotation)
** 1622, Antonio de Herrera [y Tordesillas], translated by C[aspar] Barlæus, Novus Orbis, Sive Descriptio Indiae Occidentalis, […], Amsterdam: Apud Michaelem Colinium Bibliopolam, ad insigne Libri Domestici, page 71:Tabaci, Cocorum, Bananarum, oryzæ, piſorum, fabarum, porcorum, gallinarum & piſcium nobis faciebant copiam.(please add an English translation of this quotation)
** 1832, Voyage de la corvette l’Astrolabe : Exécuté pár ordre du roi, pendant les années 1826-1827-1828-1829, sous le commandement de M. J. Dumont d’Urville, […], volume IV, Paris: J. Tastu, […], page 686:Hi Æthiopes monstrabant ut tormenta nostra exploderemus in canoas istas, sed significabatur ipsis, hoc à natura batava alienum, nocere inculpatis, si vero nos læderent, arma nobis data defensioni, nihilominus advolant amicè, adferentes tantam abundantiam cocorum et bananarum, quantam desiderabamus, ut socio unicuique quinquaginta nuces distribuerentur et duo fasciculi bananarum.(please add an English translation of this quotation)
** 1884, Francis William Newman, Rebilius Cruso: Robinson Crusoe, in Latin; a Book to Lighten Tedium to a Learner, London: Trübner & Co., […], page 56:Jam dactylos, bananas, cocos nuces, ananassas, uvas, ad libitum me habiturum spero: nimia me spes et nimia cupiditas festinavit. […] Modicum bananarum et dactylorum onus assumo: vescor quantum libet, bibo e rivulo, et, relictâ scaphâ, ascendo vallem.(please add an English translation of this quotation)
** 2010 January 21, Erik Collins, “Sample Lesson: Lesson plans for Capitulum VIII of Oerberg’s Lingua Latīna”, in LATIN 4770: Methods and Materials for Teaching Latin (The Official Wheelock’s Latin Series Website):Post mēnsam, delīnā tabernārium in tabernā, quī māla et bananās vendit.(please add an English translation of this quotation)

#### Declension

First-declension noun.

## Lower Sorbian
### Etymology

From German Banane, ultimately from Wolof banaana.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /baˈnana/

### Noun

banana f
* banana

#### Declension
### References

* Starosta, Manfred (1999) “banana”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag
* Lower Sorbian vocabulary. In: Haspelmath, M. & Tadmor, U. (eds.) World Loanword Database. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

## Maltese
### Etymology

Borrowed from Italian banana, from Wolof banaana.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /baˈnaː.na/

### Noun

banana m (collective, singulative banana, paucal bananiet)
* banana (fruit)

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Borrowed from a Niger-Congo language spoken in the Guinea region. Further derivation is unclear. Possible ancestor or cognate languages include Wolof banaana, Eastern Maninkakan banana, and Vai ꕒꘌꕯ (ɓaana) or ꕒꕌꕯ (ɓaana). However, Ay Baati Wolof (Munro & Gaye, 1997) posits that Wolof banaana is itself derived from Portuguese.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /baˈnɐ̃.nɐ/, /bɐˈnɐ.nɐ/
* (Brazil) IPA: /baˈnɐ̃.nɐ/, /bɐˈnɐ.nɐ/
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /baˈnɐ.na/, /bɐˈnɐ.na/
* (Portugal) IPA: /bɐˈnɐ.nɐ/
* (Portugal) IPA: /bɐˈnɐ.nɐ/
** (Northern Portugal) IPA: /bɐˈna.nɐ/
* (Northeast Brazil) IPA: /bɐ̃ˈnɐ̃.nɐ/
* Rhymes: -ɐ̃nɐ, -ɐnɐ
* Hyphenation: ba‧na‧na

### Noun

banana f (plural bananas)
* banana (fruit)
    Synonym: (Brazil) pacova
    As bananas são ricas em potássio ― Bananas are high in potassium
* banana (plant)
    Synonym: (more common) bananeira
* (informal) penis
* (Brazil, informal) bras d'honneur (obscene gesture)
    Synonym: (Portugal) manguito

#### Derived terms

* banana de dinamite
* banana-comprida
* banana-da-terra
* banana-pão
* bananal
* bananão
* bananeira
* bananinha
* embananar
* república das bananas
* república de bananas

#### Descendants

* →? English: banana
* → French: banane
* → German: Banane, Banana (obsolete; until 19th c.)
** → Hunsrik: Banann
* →? Spanish: banana

### Noun

banana m or f by sense (plural bananas)
* (derogatory, slang) wimp (a weak or unconfident person)
    Aquele rapaz é um banana! ― That guy is a wimp!

### References

* ↑ Antenor Nascentes (1955) “banana”, in Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa [Portuguese language etymological dictionary] (in Portuguese), 2nd edition, volume I, Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Acadêmica, page 61, column 1
* ↑ Academia das Ciências de Lisboa (2001–present) “banana”, in Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa‎
* ↑ “banana”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
* ↑ S.W. Koelle (1854) Outlines of a Grammar of the Vei Language: Together with a Vei-English Vocabulary‎, London Church Missionary House, page 144
* ↑ Munro, Pamela, Gaye, Dieynaba (1997) Ay baati Wolof: A Wolof dictionary (UCLA Occasional Papers in Linguistics)‎, Los Angeles: Department of Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles, →OCLC, page 15

## Romanian
### Noun

banana f
* definite singular nominative/accusative of banană (banana (fruit))

## Sardinian
### Etymology

From Spanish banana, from Wolof banaana.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /banana/

### Noun

banana f (plural bananas)
* banana (fruit)

## Serbo-Croatian
### Etymology

From Spanish, from Portuguese, from Wolof banaana.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /banǎːna/
* Hyphenation: ba‧na‧na

### Noun

banána f (Cyrillic spelling бана́на)
* banana

#### Declension
### References

* “banana”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

## Spanish
### Etymology

Derived from a Niger-Congo language spoken in the Guinea region, probably through Portuguese banana. Further derivation is unclear. Possible ancestor or cognate languages include Wolof banaana, Eastern Maninkakan banana, and Vai ꕒꘌꕯ (ɓaana) or ꕒꕌꕯ (ɓaana). However, Ay Baati Wolof (Munro & Gaye, 1997) posits that Wolof banaana is itself derived from Portuguese banana.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /baˈnana/ [baˈna.na]
* Rhymes: -ana
* Syllabification: ba‧na‧na

### Noun

banana f (plural bananas)
* (Rioplatense, Andes) banana (fruit)
    Synonyms: plátano, guineo, cambur, banano
* (Uruguay, colloquial) an idiot
* (Argentina, Dominican Republic, colloquial) smartass
* (Bolivia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, colloquial) penis

#### Usage notes

* banana may also be used in Spain, to differentiate from plátano (“plantain”); otherwise, plátano refers to either.

#### Derived terms

* bananero
* banano

#### Descendants

* →? English: banana

### References

* ↑ Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1984) “banana”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), volume I (A–Ca), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 484
* ↑ “Etimología de BANANA”, in DECEL - Diccionario Etimológico Castellano en Línea‎, 2024
* ↑ “banana”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
* ↑ S.W. Koelle (1854) Outlines of a Grammar of the Vei Language: Together with a Vei-English Vocabulary‎, London Church Missionary House, page 144
* ↑ Munro, Pamela, Gaye, Dieynaba (1997) Ay baati Wolof: A Wolof dictionary (UCLA Occasional Papers in Linguistics)‎, Los Angeles: Department of Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles, →OCLC, page 15

### Further reading

* “banana”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

## Tok Pisin
### Etymology

From English banana.

### Noun

banana
* banana
** 1995, John Verhaar, Toward a reference grammar of Tok Pisin: an experiment in corpus linguistics‎ (overall work in English), →ISBN, page 433:Mekim olsem pinis, orait tupela i planim taro na banana, na kumu, painap, kon, tomato, na kaukau tu.(please add an English translation of this quotation)

## Welsh
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* (North Wales) IPA: /baˈnana/
* (South Wales) IPA: /baˈna(ː)na/
* Rhymes: -ana

### Noun

banana f (plural bananas)
* banana

#### Synonyms

* (humorous) ffrwchnedden

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.