HOW TO PRONOUNCE
banana
/bəˈnænə/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
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Relax the vowels on both sides of “nan.”
In buh-NAN-uh, the middle vowel is stressed and sounds like the a in cat. The first and last written a letters are both schwa /ə/.
3 syllables · Stress on syllable 2
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“She packed a banana for lunch.”
APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗What does banana mean?
noun
- 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.
- 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.
More meanings (12)
noun
- A yellow color, like that of a banana's skin.
- (slang) The penis.
- A banana kick.
- A banana equivalent dose.
- A catamorphism (from the use of banana brackets in the notation).
- An incorrectly held handstand, often seen in beginners.
- (derogatory) A person of East or Southeast Asian descent, considered to be overly assimilated and subservient to white authority.
- (derogatory) A person of Chinese descent who cannot speak Mandarin or any Chinese dialect
- (derogatory, humorous, informal) One who objects to the building of any structure in their neighbourhood or a certain type of structure anywhere, especially in public policy debate.
adjective
- Curved like a banana, especially of a ball in flight.
proper noun
- A surname.
- A village on Kiritimati, Kiribati.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/bəˈnænə/
Pronunciation used in the listening tip.
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
Banana exports, second only to oil, have suffered as a result of import quotas of the European Union and banana blight.
After we were embarked, the old lady came with a parting gift for me—a huge bowl of smoking hot banana porridge.
More book examples (3)
It is generally smoked in the form of large cigarettes, the finely cut leaf being rolled in sheets of dried banana leaf.
Like other kitchen garbage, banana waste should be put into the core of a compost pile to avoid attracting and breeding flies.
Sometimes we caught a glimpse of their owners crouched in the bush, concealed behind banana leaves, motionless and straight against a tree trunk.