Bamboo Meaning
/bæmˈbu/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAny of the fast-growing grasses of the Bambusoideae subfamily, characterised by its woody, hollow, round, straight, jointed stem.
nounWood of the bamboo plant as a material for building, furniture, etc.
Sentence Examples
Pandas feed on bamboo grass.
The bamboo gave but did not break.
The panda's natural habitat is the bamboo forest.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The panda chewed on the fresh green ____ during its afternoon snack.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Pandas love to eat the leaves and shoots of the ____ plant daily.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Dravidian *wē Proto-Dravidian *mpu Proto-Dravidian *wēmpu Tamil வேம்பு (vēmpu)bor. ▲ Proto-Dravidian *wēmpu Kannada ಬಂಬು (bambu)bor. Malay bambubor. Portuguese bambubor. Dutch bamboebor. English bamboo Borrowed from Dutch bamboe, from Portuguese bambu, from Malay bambu, from Kannada ಬಂಬು (bambu), variant form of ಬೇವು (bēvu). Cognate with Malayalam വേപ്പ് (vēppŭ), Telugu వేప (vēpa), from Proto-Dravidian *wēmpu (“neem”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"However, the late Hsia and the Shang were considerably warmer, possibly comparable to Hang-chou today, an area where bamboo proliferates."
— 2011, Ralph D. Sawyer, Ancient Chinese Warfare, Basic Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 490:
"It was evident that Europeans seldom came here, for numbers of women skeltered away as I walked through the village and one girl about ten or twelve years old, who had just brought a bamboo full of water from the river, threw it down with a cry of horror and alarm the moment she caught sight of me, turned around and jumped into the stream."
— 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 102:
"[…] the beadle is punished by fine, and sometimes bambooed, if robberies are too frequent within his jurisdiction, or if he fails to secure the person of any malefactor particularly wanted by his superior officers."
— 1880, Herbert Giles, transl., Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, London: Thomas de la Rue & Co., Vol. II, p. 18, footnote:
"The craze for bambooing furniture and accessories was one of many popular paint techniques in the 18th century and early Victorian era."
— 1994, Penny Swift, The Complete Book of Paint Techniques, New Holland, page 67:
"If you're just a girl from Lucknow, with no fluid cash, you'll be just one more among thousands going from producer to producer by auto-rickshaw, and every photographer who agrees to take a picture for your portfolio will want to introduce you to his bed upstairs in the loft. And what you'll get out of all this in the end is a lot of bambooing and maybe a dance or two in his videos."
— 2006, Vikram Chandra, Sacred Games, Penguin, published 2008:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The panda chewed on the fresh green ____ during its afternoon snack.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Pandas love to eat the leaves and shoots of the ____ plant daily.