Wiktionary

banana

See also: Appendix:Variations of "banana"

English

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

Etymology

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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] However, Ay Baati Wolof (Munro & Gaye, 1997) posits that Wolof banaana is itself derived from Portuguese banana.[6]

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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]
    • 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. (slang) The penis.
    • 1986, Christopher Street, Cop Feels of Three Men's "Privates"‎[9], 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[10], 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[11], 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[12], 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.
  7. (sports) A banana kick.
  8. (nuclear physics) A banana equivalent dose.
  9. (computer science, colloquial) A catamorphism (from the use of banana brackets in the notation).

Hypernyms

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Hyponyms

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

Coordinate terms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Adjective

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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

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ “banana, n.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  2. ^ “banana”, in Merriam-Webster 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.
  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. ^ Munro, Pamela, Gaye, Dieynaba (1997) Ay baati Wolof: A Wolof dictionary (UCLA Occasional Papers in Linguistics)‎[2], Los Angeles: Department of Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles, →OCLC, page 15

Anagrams

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Asturian

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Pronunciation

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

Noun

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banana f (plural bananes)

  1. banana (fruit)
    Synonym: plátanu

Catalan

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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banana f (plural bananes)

  1. banana (fruit)
    Synonym: plàtan

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Cornish

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Etymology

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From English banana.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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banana m (plural bananas)

  1. banana

Mutation

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  Mutation of banana  
Cornish consonant mutation
unmutated soft aspirate hard mixed mixed after 'th
banana vanana unchanged panana fanana vanana

French

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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banana

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

Galician

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Pronunciation

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

Noun

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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.
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Further reading

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Icelandic

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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banana

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

Irish

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Etymology

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From Wolof banaana.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /bˠəˈn̪ˠan̪ˠə/

Noun

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banana m (genitive singular banana, nominative plural bananaí)

  1. banana

Declension

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Declension of banana

Fourth declension

Bare forms

Case Singular Plural
Nominative banana bananaí
Vocative a bhanana a bhananaí
Genitive banana bananaí
Dative banana bananaí

Forms with the definite article

Case Singular Plural
Nominative an banana na bananaí
Genitive an bhanana na mbananaí
Dative leis an mbanana

don bhanana

leis na bananaí

Derived terms

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Mutation

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Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
banana bhanana mbanana
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

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Italian

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Italian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia it

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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banana f (plural banane)

  1. banana (fruit)

Noun

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banana m (invariable)

  1. banana (color)

Adjective

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banana (invariable)

  1. banana (color)
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Japanese

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Romanization

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banana

  1. Rōmaji transcription of バナナ

Latin

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Noun

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banana f (genitive bananae); 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.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

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First-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative banana bananae
Genitive bananae bananārum
Dative bananae bananīs
Accusative bananam bananās
Ablative bananā bananīs
Vocative banana bananae

Lower Sorbian

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Etymology

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From German Banane, ultimately from Wolof banaana.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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banana f

  1. banana

Declension

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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

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  • 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

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Italian banana, from Wolof banaana.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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banana m (collective, singulative banana, paucal bananiet)

  1. banana (fruit)

Portuguese

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Etymology

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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

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  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /baˈnɐ̃.nɐ/, /bɐˈnɐ.nɐ/
    • (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /baˈnɐ.na/, /bɐˈnɐ.na/
 

Noun

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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

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Descendants

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

Noun

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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

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  1. ^ Antenor Nascentes (1955) “banana”, in Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa (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[3]
  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[4], London Church Missionary House, page 144
  5. ^ Munro, Pamela, Gaye, Dieynaba (1997) Ay baati Wolof: A Wolof dictionary (UCLA Occasional Papers in Linguistics)‎[5], Los Angeles: Department of Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles, →OCLC, page 15

Romanian

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Noun

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banana f

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

Sardinian

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Etymology

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From Spanish banana, from Wolof banaana.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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banana f (plural bananas)

  1. banana (fruit)

Serbo-Croatian

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Etymology

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From Spanish, from Portuguese, from Wolof banaana.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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banána f (Cyrillic spelling бана́на)

  1. banana

Declension

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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

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  • “banana”, in Hrvatski jezični portal (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2024

Spanish

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Etymology

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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

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

Noun

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banana f (plural bananas)

  1. (Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay) banana (fruit)
    Synonyms: plátano, guineo, cambur, banano

Usage notes

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

Derived terms

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Descendants

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References

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  1. ^ Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1984) “banana”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), volume I (A–Ca), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 484
  2. ^ “Etimología de BANANA”, in DECEL - Diccionario Etimológico Castellano en Línea‎[6], 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[7], London Church Missionary House, page 144
  5. ^ Munro, Pamela, Gaye, Dieynaba (1997) Ay baati Wolof: A Wolof dictionary (UCLA Occasional Papers in Linguistics)‎[8], Los Angeles: Department of Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles, →OCLC, page 15

Further reading

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Tok Pisin

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Etymology

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From English banana.

Noun

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banana

  1. banana
    • 1995, John Verhaar, Toward a reference grammar of Tok Pisin: an experiment in corpus linguistics‎[13] (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

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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banana f (plural bananas)

  1. banana

Synonyms

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Mutation

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Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
banana fanana manana unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.
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