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banana
/bəˈnɑːnə/
yellow tropical fruit
She peeled a ripe banana for breakfast.
She removed the skin of a yellow tropical fruit to eat it in the morning.
informal
A long curved fruit with a yellow skin and soft sweet flesh, often eaten as a snack or in desserts.
Monkeys love to eat bananas in the wild.
Primates in the jungle enjoy consuming this yellow tropical fruit.
The word 'banana' can also refer to the banana plant itself, which is a large herb.
Collocations
banana breada sweet baked good made with mashed bananasbanana peelthe skin or outer layer of a bananabanana splita dessert made with sliced bananas, ice cream, and toppings
Synonyms
Related Phrases
Pro Tip
Pronunciation Tip
The word 'banana' is pronounced with equal stress on all syllables: ba-NA-na.
Gold Rule
Usage Rule
Use 'banana' to refer to the fruit or the plant, but not to describe a person's behavior unless using the idiom 'go bananas'.
Word Origin
From Spanish 'banana' or Portuguese 'banana', ultimately from Wolof 'banaana', possibly from an African language.
Usage Notes
The term 'banana' can also be used metaphorically to describe something that is curved or bent, such as a 'banana-shaped' object.
Word Breakdown
ban
possibly from an African word for the fruit
root-ana
a suffix indicating a fruit or plant
suffixEnglish Dictionary