banana English · revision 10600

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1563|origins=pt banana}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /bəˈnɑː.nə/, US /bəˈnæn.ə/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|pt|banana]] or Spanish banana,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from a West African word, compare Wolof and Mandingo banäna, barända, plantain;^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline) Word Origins and the NODE name the Mande languages as the source.^(Cresswell 2021)^(NODE 1998) The plant itself is native to Southeast Asia and was brought to Africa in prehistoric times.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The fruit: 1563 in the OED;^(OED 1989) 1597 in Barnhart and Merriam-Webster, the 1590s in Etymonline.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The plant itself is called banana from 1697 in the OED, the 1690s in Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) ''Banana-skin'', also as a figure for a cause of embarrassment, is among the compounds the OED records from 1713 onward.^(OED 1989) ''Bananas'', crazy or wild with excitement or anger, is from 1935 in the OED,^(OED 1989) spread in American English in the 1950s;^(Cresswell 2021) ''top banana'', the most important person, also came from 20th-century slang.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1563 – the fruit.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1697 – the plant.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1923 – a banana-yellow colour.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1935 – bananas, crazy.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The long curved [[fruit]] of a tropical plant, with a yellow skin and soft sweet flesh.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The treelike tropical plant of the genus ''[[Musa]]'' that bears this fruit.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''bananas'' ''(slang)'': crazy, or wild with excitement or anger.^(OED 1989)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[plantain]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}