banana

IPA/bəˈnɑːnə/
KK[bənˈænə]IPA/bəˈnænə/

banana — noun

  • bananasingular
  • bananasplural

1. a sweet, soft fruit you peel before eating, usually yellow outside and long with

1.nounA1
Definition

a sweet, soft fruit you peel before eating, usually yellow outside and long with a curved shape

Example

Noah peeled a banana before the train left Taipei Station.

peel a banana before eating

Mina's ripe banana lay beside her math book in class.

collocation: ripe banana

Common collocations
  • ripe banana
  • banana peel
  • banana slices
  • mashed banana
  • a bunch of bananas
Synonyms
  • fruit

    a broader word; a banana is one kind of fruit

  • plantain

    a similar fruit, but usually firmer and often cooked rather than eaten raw

Grammar Patterns

eat a banana

peel a banana

a bunch of bananas

Usage Note

Usually countable in everyday English: one banana, two bananas. Common verbs are eat, peel, slice, and mash.

Common Mistakes

I ate banana after lunch.
I ate a banana after lunch.
Use a or an when you mean one fruit.
She bought two banana.
She bought two bananas.
Use the plural form after a number greater than one.
Idioms

go bananas

idiom

To become very angry, excited, or act in a silly way.

Dad will go bananas when he sees the broken window.

The crowd went bananas after the team scored the winning goal.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Banana names one specific kind of fruit, so it is narrower than fruit, which can mean many sweet foods from plants. Plantain is closely related to banana and often looks similar, but it is usually firmer, less sweet, and more often cooked. Apple is another common fruit word, but it suggests a round shape and crisp flesh instead of a long peelable fruit. Use banana when you mean this soft yellow fruit exactly. You can say Ethan ate a banana after practice, but Ethan fried a plantain for dinner suggests a different food and a different way of eating it.

banana ↗fruit ↗plantainapple ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • banana peel
  • banana bread
  • banana milkshake
  • banana slices

Phrases

  • eat a banana
  • peel a banana
  • slice a banana
  • a bunch of bananas

Etymology

West African languageSpanish or PortugueseEnglish

Banana entered English in the 1500s through Spanish or Portuguese. Those languages seem to have taken it from a West African word for the fruit. Since then, English has kept banana as the everyday name for this long yellow fruit.