banana

Pluralbananas

1. 1
   fruitnouncountable or uncountable

   A long curved tropical fruit with soft, sweet, creamy flesh and a yellow skin when ripe, growing in bunches.

   She added a sliced banana to her bowl of oatmeal.

   The monkeys peeled their bananas with surprising skill.

   UsageCount whole fruits: a banana, two bananas. For banana as an ingredient, you can say mashed banana or slices of banana.

2. 2
   plantnouncountable or uncountable

   A tropical, tree-like plant of the genus Musa, bearing clusters of bananas and large, elongated leaves.

   A single banana can reach over twenty feet, its huge leaves shading the soil.

   Storms flattened the bananas across the plantation overnight.

   Note

   This sense names the plant behind the fruit, and its botanical reach is a little loose: it usually means a member of the genus Musa, but it sometimes stretches to take in Ensete too. The word works as a count noun (a row of bananas) and as a mass noun (land planted in banana). Only context separates it from the fruit itself, since the spelling and plural are the same. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • The plant sense refers to banana-bearing plants of the genus Musa. en.wiktionary.org
   • The name sometimes also includes plants of the genus Ensete. en.wikipedia.org
3. 3
   curved shapeadjective

   Curved like a banana, especially describing a ball that bends in flight.

   The striker curled a banana free kick over the wall and into the net.

   A strong crosswind gave the throw a pronounced banana curve.

   UsageGoes before a noun: a banana kick, a banana shot, a banana slice in golf.

   Similarcurved, swerving, bending

   Oppositestraight

   Note

   Golf uses it for a wildly curving shot, "the bane of so many weekenders" in Rayne Barton's The Green Hills Golf Chronicles (2001). Soccer writing uses it for the deliberately bent free kick, as in Richard Witzig's The Global Art of Soccer (2006). Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The Green Hills Golf Chronicles describes the banana ball as "the bane of so many weekenders". en.wiktionary.org
   • The Global Art of Soccer uses banana for a curved free-kick shot. en.wiktionary.org
4. 4
   yellownoununcountable

   A yellow color resembling that of a banana's skin.

   The designer chose a soft banana for the nursery walls.

   The vintage convertible was repainted in banana, a shade that turned heads at every car show.

5. 5
   penisnounslangcountable or uncountable

   A slang term for the penis.

   He joked that the cold water had shriveled his banana.

   She wasn't impressed by his bragging about his banana.

   Similarwilly, dick

   Note

   A coy, joking slang word that lets a speaker name the penis without quite naming it. It shows up in comic fiction and gossip. Sarah Mlynowski's Fishbowl (2002) plays on ripeness with the line "his banana wasn't overripe". Because the everyday fruit sense is so common, the double meaning usually needs a suggestive context to land. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Sarah Mlynowski wrote Fishbowl, first published in 2002. openlibrary.org
   • Fishbowl contains the words "his banana wasn't overripe", using banana to refer to the penis. en.wiktionary.org

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