bayou

English

Bayou Corne in Assumption Parish, Louisiana in 2010

Alternative forms

• buyou (dated)
• byo (obsolete)

Etymology

From Louisiana French bayou, from Choctaw bayuk (“a creek”). Doublet of bogue.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaɪ.(j)uː/, /ˈbaɪ.oʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

bayou (plural bayous)

1. A slow-moving, often stagnant creek or river.
   • 1892, Walt Whitman, “A Leaf for Hand in Hand”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], →OCLC, page 109:

     You natural persons old and young! / You on the Mississippi and on all the branches and bayous of the Mississippi! / You friendly boatmen and mechanics! you roughs!

2. A swamp; a marshy (stagnant) body of water.
   • 1886, Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant‎^[1], volume 2:

     At that time I had no staff officer who could be trusted with that duty. In the woods, at a short distance below the clearing, I found a depression, dry at the time, but which at high water became a slough or bayou.

Usage notes

• Used almost exclusively to refer to bodies of water in Louisiana and adjoining areas, including southern Mississippi, Alabama, eastern Texas, Arkansas, and Florida.

Derived terms

• Bayou of Pigs
• bayou physa

Translations

slow-moving creek or swamp

• Czech: mrtvé rameno, močálovité rameno
• Finnish: lutakko (fi)
• French: bayou (fr) m, marécages (fr) m pl
• Italian: acquitrino (it) m, ramo paludoso m
• Polish: bayou (pl) n
• Portuguese: brejo (pt) m
• Spanish: pantano (es) m, pantanos (es) m pl
• Swedish: bayou c

Anagrams

• Ayoub, Yoabu, boyau

French

Alternative forms

• bayouc (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Choctaw bayuk (“creek”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba.ju/

  • Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

    (file)

• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): /ba.ju/
• Rhymes: -ju
• Homophone: bayous

Noun

bayou m (plural bayous)

1. bayou (a slow-moving, sometimes stagnant body of water left behind by the meandering of the Mississippi River in Louisiana or elsewhere)
   • 2010, Valdman, et al., Dictionary of Louisiana French as Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian Communities, page 128:

     Si tu vas dans la rivière il faut que tu restes dedans le chenal. C’est le plus creux dedans un bayou ou une rivière.

     If you go in the river you have to stay in the channel. It’s the deepest part of a bayou or a river.

   • 2010, Valdman, et al., Dictionary of Louisiana French, page 336:

     L’eau du bayou est huileuse depuis qu’ils ont fouillé le puits d’huile.

     The bayou water is oily since they dug the oil well.

   • 2010, Valdman, et al., Dictionary of Louisiana French, page 550:

     Son mari a tombé du bateau dedans le bayou et il a jamais ressoud.

     Her husband fell off the boat into the bayou and he never resurfaced.

   • 2010, Valdman, et al., Dictionary of Louisiana French, page 636:

     Ça va te tuer raide. Ici en bas du bayou il y a pas de serpent qu’est pas poisonous.

     That will knock you dead. Down the bayou here there aren’t any snakes that aren’t poisonous.

2. (Louisiana, also) stream (a small river)

Derived terms

• bayou Lafourche
• bayou Têche

Further reading

• “bayou”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012
• Dictionary of Louisiana French: As Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian Communities (2009; →ISBN; →ISBN)