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Definition of banana noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

banana

noun
 
 
/bəˈnɑːnə/
 
/bəˈnænə/
[countable, uncountable]Idioms
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  1. a long curved fruit with a thick yellow skin and that is soft inside, which grows on trees in hot countries
    • a bunch of bananas
    • ripe bananas
    • mashed banana
    • a banana skin/peel
    see also second banana, top bananaTopics Fooda1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • ripe
    • overripe
    • green
    • …
    … of bananas
    • bunch
    verb + banana
    • eat
    • have
    • pick
    • …
    banana + noun
    • peel
    • skin
    • plant
    • …
    See full entry
    Word Originlate 16th cent.: via Portuguese or Spanish from Mande. Mande is a group of Niger-Congo languages spoken by the Mande people of West Africa.
Idioms
go bananas
  1. (slang) to become angry, crazy or silly
    • He'll go bananas when he finds out.
    • The British press has gone bananas, proclaiming the end of civilization as we know it.
    Topics Feelingsc2
See banana in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
Check pronunciation: banana

Nearby words

apple
noun
 
 
From the Word list
Oxford 3000
A1
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