BANANA

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does banana mean? 

• BANANA (noun)
  The noun BANANA has 2 senses:

1. any of several tropical and subtropical treelike herbs of the genus Musa having a terminal crown of large entire leaves and usually bearing hanging clusters of elongated fruits

2. elongated crescent-shaped yellow fruit with soft sweet flesh

  Familiarity information: BANANA used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BANANA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of several tropical and subtropical treelike herbs of the genus Musa having a terminal crown of large entire leaves and usually bearing hanging clusters of elongated fruits

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

banana; banana tree

Hypernyms ("banana" is a kind of...):

herb; herbaceous plant (a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "banana"):

dwarf banana; Musa acuminata (low-growing Asian banana tree cultivated especially in the West Indies for its clusters of edible yellow fruit)

Japanese banana; Musa basjoo (Asiatic banana plant cultivated especially as a foliage plant in Japan)

Musa paradisiaca; plantain; plantain tree (a banana tree bearing hanging clusters of edible angular greenish starchy fruits; tropics and subtropics)

edible banana; Musa paradisiaca sapientum (widely cultivated species of banana trees bearing compact hanging clusters of commercially important edible yellow fruit)

abaca; Manila hemp; Musa textilis (Philippine banana tree having leafstalks that yield Manila hemp used for rope and paper etc)

Holonyms ("banana" is a member of...):

genus Musa; Musa (type genus of the Musaceae: bananas)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Elongated crescent-shaped yellow fruit with soft sweet flesh

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("banana" is a kind of...):

edible fruit (edible reproductive body of a seed plant especially one having sweet flesh)

Holonyms ("banana" is a part of...):

dwarf banana; Musa acuminata (low-growing Asian banana tree cultivated especially in the West Indies for its clusters of edible yellow fruit)

edible banana; Musa paradisiaca sapientum (widely cultivated species of banana trees bearing compact hanging clusters of commercially important edible yellow fruit)

 Context examples 

Over the years, we've been able to develop a banana that has achieved excellent pro-vitamin A levels, hence the golden-orange rather than cream-colored flesh…” he noted.

(Golden Bananas High in Pro-Vitamin A Developed, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

For three days I lived off guavas, ohia-apples, and bananas, all of which grew wild in the jungle.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A characteristic of a medicinal product, specifying that its most predominant agreeable savor detected by the unified sensation of taste and olfactory receptors resembles banana.

(Banana Flavor, NCI Thesaurus)

Chlordecone has been used as an insecticide on bananas, non-bearing citrus trees, tobacco, lawns and flowers.

(Chlordecone, NCI Thesaurus)

A characteristic of a medicinal product, specifying that its most predominant agreeable savor detected by the unified sensation of taste and olfactory receptors resembles orange and banana combination.

(Orange Banana Flavor, NCI Thesaurus)

Oligofructose-enriched inulin is made by combining two substances that occur naturally in many plants, including chicory root, wheat, bananas, onion, and garlic.

(Oligofructose-enriched inulin, NCI Dictionary)

Recent developments in genetic modification (GM) technology include a way to prevent the popular Cavendish banana variety from being wiped out by the Fusarium wilt fungus.

(GM tech expands with more crops to more countries, SciDev.Net)

Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California have found potassium-rich vegetables like sweet potatoes, avocados, spinach, beans and bananas could help lower blood pressure.

(Study: Fruits and Vegetables Can Lower Blood Pressure, VOA)

For example, an ultra-processed breakfast might consist of a bagel with cream cheese and turkey bacon, while the unprocessed breakfast was oatmeal with bananas, walnuts, and skim milk.

(Heavily processed foods cause overeating and weight gain, National Institutes of Health)

For example, one such group, the turacos (‘banana eaters’) are fruit-eating birds which are only found in the forests and savannahs of sub-Saharan Africa, but fossils of an early turaco relative have been found in modern-day Wyoming, in the northern United States.

(Past climate change pushed birds from the northern hemisphere to the tropics, University of Cambridge)