Jump to content

banana

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Appendix:Variations of "banana"
Languages (21)
English
Asturian • Catalan • Cornish • French • Galician • Icelandic • Irish • Italian • Japanese • Latin • Lower Sorbian • Maltese • Manchu • Portuguese • Romanian • Sardinian • Serbo-Croatian • Spanish • Tok Pisin • Welsh
Page categories

English

[edit]
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
Four different types of bananas. The larger yellow bananas on the far right are commercially dominant Cavendish bananas.

Alternative forms

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

    Borrowed from Portuguese banana or Spanish banana, derived from a Niger-Congo language spoken in the Guinea region.[1] Specific derivation is unclear. Possible ancestor or cognate languages include Wolof banaana, Eastern Maninkakan banana, and Vai ꕒꘌꕯ (ɓaana) or ꕒꕌꕯ (ɓaana),[2][3][4][5] possibly from Arabic بَنَان (banān, “fingertip, banana”).[6] However, Ay Baati Wolof (Munro & Gaye, 1997) posits that Wolof banaana is itself derived from Portuguese banana.[7]

    The racial slur derives from the notion that they are “Yellow (East-Asian) on the outside, but White (Westernized) on the inside”.

    Pronunciation

    [edit]

    Noun

    [edit]

    banana (countable and uncountable, plural bananas)

    2. An elongated curved tropical fruit of a banana plant, which grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin. [from 1597]
      Jimmy had a banana for breakfast.
      • 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.
      1. (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.
    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. [from 1697]
    4. (uncountable) A yellow color, like that of a banana's skin. [from 1923]
      banana:  
    5. (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
    6. (Malaysia, Singapore, derogatory, ethnic slur) A person of Chinese descent who cannot speak Mandarin or any Chinese dialect
    7. (slang) The penis.
      • 1986, Christopher Street, Cop Feels of Three Men's "Privates"‎[11], 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[12], 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[13], 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[14], 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.
    8. (sports) A banana kick.
    9. (nuclear physics) A banana equivalent dose.
    10. (computer science, colloquial) A catamorphism (from the use of banana brackets in the notation).
    11. An incorrectly held handstand, often seen in beginners.

    Hypernyms

    [edit]

    Hyponyms

    [edit]
    • (Asian assimilated into Western culture): jook-sing

    Coordinate terms

    [edit]

    Derived terms

    [edit]

    Descendants

    [edit]

    Translations

    [edit]

    Adjective

    [edit]

    banana (not comparable)

    1. 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

    [edit]

    See also

    [edit]

    References

    [edit]
    1. ^ “banana, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
    2. ^ “banana”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
    3. ^ “banana”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
    4. ^ “banana”, in Collins English Dictionary, 2011–present.
    5. ^ S.W. Koelle (1854), Outlines of a Grammar of the Vei Language: Together with a Vei-English Vocabulary‎[1], London Church Missionary House, page 144
    6. ^ Oxford Dictionaries citing John Ayto’s The Diner’s Dictionary: Word origins of food and drink [2]
    7. ^ Munro, Pamela; Gaye, Dieynaba (1997), Ay baati Wolof: A Wolof dictionary (UCLA Occasional Papers in Linguistics)‎[3], Los Angeles: Department of Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles, →OCLC, page 15

    Anagrams

    [edit]

    Asturian

    [edit]

    Pronunciation

    [edit]
    • IPA(key): /baˈnana/ [baˈna.na]
    • Rhymes: -ana
    • Syllabification: ba‧na‧na

    Noun

    [edit]

    banana f (plural bananes)

    1. banana (fruit)
      Synonym: plátanu

    Catalan

    [edit]

    Pronunciation

    [edit]

    Noun

    [edit]

    banana f (plural bananes)

    1. banana (fruit)
      Synonym: plàtan

    Derived terms

    [edit]

    Further reading

    [edit]

    Cornish

    [edit]

    Etymology

    [edit]

    From English banana.

    Pronunciation

    [edit]

    Noun

    [edit]

    banana m (plural bananas)

    1. banana

    Mutation

    [edit]
    Mutation of banana
    radical soft aspirate hard mixed
    banana vanana unchanged panana fanana,
    vanana*

    * after 'th
    Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Cornish.
    All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

    French

    [edit]

    Pronunciation

    [edit]

    Verb

    [edit]

    banana

    1. third-person singular past historic of bananer (to make a mistake)

    Galician

    [edit]

    Pronunciation

    [edit]
    • IPA(key): /baˈnana/ [baˈnã.nɐ]
    • Rhymes: -ana
    • Hyphenation: ba‧na‧na

    Noun

    [edit]

    banana f (plural bananas)

    1. banana (fruit)
      Synonym: plátano
      Os chimpancés utilizan bastóns para coller unha banana.
      Chimpanzees use sticks to pick up a banana.
    [edit]

    Further reading

    [edit]

    Icelandic

    [edit]

    Pronunciation

    [edit]

    Noun

    [edit]

    banana

    1. definite accusative plural of bani
    2. inflection of banani:
      1. indefinite accusative
      2. indefinite dative singular
      3. indefinite genitive

    Irish

    [edit]

    Etymology

    [edit]

    From Wolof banaana.

    Pronunciation

    [edit]
    • IPA(key): /bˠəˈn̪ˠan̪ˠə/

    Noun

    [edit]

    banana m (genitive singular banana, nominative plural bananaí)

    1. banana

    Declension

    [edit]
    Declension of banana (fourth 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

    [edit]

    Mutation

    [edit]
    Mutated forms of banana
    radical lenition eclipsis
    banana bhanana mbanana

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

    Further reading

    [edit]

    Italian

    [edit]
    Italian Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia it

    Pronunciation

    [edit]
    • IPA(key): /baˈna.na/
    • Audio:(file)
    • Rhymes: -ana
    • Hyphenation: ba‧nà‧na

    Noun

    [edit]

    banana f (plural banane)

    1. banana (fruit)

    Descendants

    [edit]

    Noun

    [edit]

    banana m (invariable)

    1. banana (color)

    Adjective

    [edit]

    banana (invariable)

    1. banana (color)
    [edit]

    Japanese

    [edit]

    Romanization

    [edit]

    banana

    1. Rōmaji transcription of バナナ

    Latin

    [edit]

    Etymology

    [edit]

    Internationalism. Vowel length cannot be properly ascribed, but the word-stress is surely on the second syllable.

    Pronunciation

    [edit]

    Noun

    [edit]

    banāna f (genitive banānae); first declension

    1. (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.
        Behind the desk, draw in his shop a seller of apples and bananas.

    Declension

    [edit]

    First-declension noun.

    singular plural
    nominative banāna banānae
    genitive banānae banānārum
    dative banānae banānīs
    accusative banānam banānās
    ablative banānā banānīs
    vocative banāna banānae

    Lower Sorbian

    [edit]

    Etymology

    [edit]

    From German Banane, ultimately from Wolof banaana.

    Pronunciation

    [edit]

    Noun

    [edit]

    banana f

    1. banana

    Declension

    [edit]
    Declension of banana
    Singular Dual Plural
    Nominative banana bananje banany
    Genitive banany bananowu bananow
    Dative bananje bananoma bananam
    Accusative bananu bananje banany
    Instrumental bananu bananoma bananami
    Locative bananje bananoma bananach

    References

    [edit]
    • 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

    [edit]

    Alternative forms

    [edit]

    Etymology

    [edit]
    Etymology tree
    Italian bananabor.
    Maltese banana

      Borrowed from Italian banana.

      Pronunciation

      [edit]

      Noun

      [edit]

      banana m (collective, singulative banana, paucal bananiet)

      1. banana (fruit)

      Manchu

      [edit]

      Romanization

      [edit]

      banana

      1. romanization of ᠪᠠᠨᠠᠨᠠ (“banana”)

      Portuguese

      [edit]

      Etymology

      [edit]

        Borrowed from a Niger-Congo language spoken in the Guinea region.[1][2] Further derivation is unclear. Possible ancestor or cognate languages include Wolof banaana, Eastern Maninkakan banana, and Vai ꕒꘌꕯ (ɓaana) or ꕒꕌꕯ (ɓaana).[3][4] However, Ay Baati Wolof (Munro & Gaye, 1997) posits that Wolof banaana is itself derived from Portuguese.[5]

        Pronunciation

        [edit]
         
         

        Noun

        [edit]

        banana f (plural bananas)

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

        Derived terms

        [edit]

        Descendants

        [edit]

        Noun

        [edit]

        banana m or f by sense (plural bananas)

        1. (derogatory, slang) wimp (a weak or unconfident person)
          Aquele rapaz é um banana! ― That guy is a wimp!

        References

        [edit]
        1. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), “banana”, in Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa [Etymological dictionary of the Portuguese language] (in Portuguese), 2nd edition, volume I, Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Acadêmica, page 61, column 1
        2. ^ Academia das Ciências de Lisboa (2001–present), “banana”, in Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa‎[4]
        3. ^ “banana”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
        4. ^ S.W. Koelle (1854), Outlines of a Grammar of the Vei Language: Together with a Vei-English Vocabulary‎[5], London Church Missionary House, page 144
        5. ^ Munro, Pamela; Gaye, Dieynaba (1997), Ay baati Wolof: A Wolof dictionary (UCLA Occasional Papers in Linguistics)‎[6], Los Angeles: Department of Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles, →OCLC, page 15

        Further reading

        [edit]

        Romanian

        [edit]

        Noun

        [edit]

        banana f

        1. definite singular nominative/accusative of banană (banana (fruit))

        Sardinian

        [edit]

        Etymology

        [edit]

        From Spanish banana, from Wolof banaana.

        Pronunciation

        [edit]

        Noun

        [edit]

        banana f (plural bananas)

        1. banana (fruit)

        Serbo-Croatian

        [edit]

        Etymology

        [edit]

        From Spanish, from Portuguese, from Wolof banaana.

        Pronunciation

        [edit]
        • IPA(key): /banǎːna/
        • Hyphenation: ba‧na‧na

        Noun

        [edit]

        banána f (Cyrillic spelling бана́на)

        1. banana

        Declension

        [edit]
        Declension of banana
        singular plural
        nominative banana banane
        genitive banane banana
        dative banani bananama
        accusative bananu banane
        vocative banano banane
        locative banani bananama
        instrumental bananom bananama

        References

        [edit]
        • “banana”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026

        Spanish

        [edit]

        Etymology

        [edit]

          Derived from a Niger-Congo language spoken in the Guinea region,[1] probably through Portuguese banana.[2] Further derivation is unclear. Possible ancestor or cognate languages include Wolof banaana, Eastern Maninkakan banana, and Vai ꕒꘌꕯ (ɓaana) or ꕒꕌꕯ (ɓaana).[3][4] However, Ay Baati Wolof (Munro & Gaye, 1997) posits that Wolof banaana is itself derived from Portuguese banana.[5]

          Pronunciation

          [edit]

          Noun

          [edit]
          Terms for banana in Latin America

          banana f (plural bananas)

          1. (Rioplatense, Andes Mountains, Guatemala, Honduras) banana (fruit)
            Synonyms: plátano, guineo, cambur, banano
          2. (Uruguay, colloquial) an idiot
            Synonym: idiota
          3. (Argentina, Dominican Republic, colloquial) smartass
            Synonym: sabihondo
          4. (Bolivia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, colloquial) penis
            Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pene

          Usage notes

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

          Derived terms

          [edit]

          Descendants

          [edit]

          References

          [edit]
          1. ^ Coromines, Joan; Pascual, José Antonio (1984), “banana”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic etymological dictionary]‎[7] (in Spanish), volume I (A–Ca), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 484
          2. ^ “Etimología de BANANA”, in DECEL - Diccionario Etimológico Castellano en Línea‎[8], 2024
          3. ^ “banana”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
          4. ^ S.W. Koelle (1854), Outlines of a Grammar of the Vei Language: Together with a Vei-English Vocabulary‎[9], London Church Missionary House, page 144
          5. ^ Munro, Pamela; Gaye, Dieynaba (1997), Ay baati Wolof: A Wolof dictionary (UCLA Occasional Papers in Linguistics)‎[10], Los Angeles: Department of Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles, →OCLC, page 15

          Further reading

          [edit]

          Tok Pisin

          [edit]

          Etymology

          [edit]

          From English banana.

          Noun

          [edit]

          banana

          1. banana
            • 1995, John Verhaar, Toward a reference grammar of Tok Pisin: an experiment in corpus linguistics‎[15] (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

          [edit]

          Etymology

          [edit]

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

          Pronunciation

          [edit]

          Noun

          [edit]

          banana f (plural bananas)

          1. banana
            Synonym: (humorous) ffrwchnedden

          Derived terms

          [edit]

          Mutation

          [edit]
          Mutated forms of banana
          radical soft nasal aspirate
          banana fanana manana unchanged

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

          Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=banana&oldid=90971663"