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banana

ba·na·na/bəˈnænə/noun, adjective

banana is spelled B-A-N-A-N-A: 6 letters and 3 syllables (ba·na·na). It appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,121st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, banana means “An elongated curved tropical fruit of a banana plant, which grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of banana is bananas.

How many letters and syllables are in banana?

Letters6: B-A-N-A-N-A
Syllables3: ba·na·na
In writing10 times per million words; the 7,121st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is banana?

Banana appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,121st most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce banana?

  • British /bəˈnɑːnə/
  • US /bəˈnænə/
  • Australia /bəˈnɐːnə/

Banana has 3 syllables, split ba·na·na in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-banana.ogg, En-us-banana.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with banana?

8 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as banana from its last stressed vowel (/ænə/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of banana

  • bananas plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does banana mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    An elongated curved tropical fruit of a banana plant, which grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin.

    Jimmy had a banana for breakfast.

  2. 2

    CanadaIrelandUKUSIn 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. 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.

  4. 4

    A yellow color, like that of a banana's skin.

  5. 5

    derogatoryA person of East or Southeast Asian descent, considered to be overly assimilated and subservient to white authority.

  6. 6

    derogatoryA person of Chinese descent who cannot speak Mandarin or any Chinese dialect

  7. 7

    slangThe penis.

  8. 8

    A banana kick.

adjective

  1. 1

    Curved like a banana, especially of a ball in flight.

noun

as BANANA
  1. 1

    derogatoryinformalOne who objects to the building of any structure in their neighbourhood or a certain type of structure anywhere, especially in public policy debate.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Banana in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbanane (fruit), bananier (plant)
GermanBanane (fruit), Bananenstaude (plant)
Portuguesebanana (fruit), bananeira (plant), amarelo-banana (color)
Spanishbanana, banano, cambur, guineo, mínimo, plátano (fruit)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does banana come from?

Borrowed from Portuguese banana or Spanish banana, derived from a Niger-Congo language spoken in the Guinea region. Specific derivation is unclear. Possible ancestor or cognate languages include Wolof banaana, Eastern Maninkakan banana, and Vai ꕒꘌꕯ (ɓaana) or ꕒꕌꕯ (ɓaana), possibly from Arabic بَنَان (banān, “fingertip, banana”). However, Ay Baati Wolof (Munro & Gaye, 1997) posits that Wolof banaana is itself derived from Portuguese banana. The racial slur derives from the notion that they are “Yellow (East-Asian) on the outside, but White (Westernized) on the inside”.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after banana