Bayou Meaning
/ˈbaɪ.(j)uː/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA slow-moving, often stagnant creek or river.
nounA swamp; a marshy (stagnant) body of water.
Sentence Examples
A corpse was found at the bayou just yesterday.
Sami is from the bayou.
CEFR Practice Quiz
They caught catfish while fishing in the slow-moving ____ near New Orleans.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The explorers paddled their small boat through the marshy ____ in the south.
Word Origin & History
From Louisiana French bayou, from Choctaw bayuk (“a creek”). Doublet of bogue.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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!"
— 1892, Walt Whitman, “A Leaf for Hand in Hand”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], →OCLC, page 109:
"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."
— 1886, Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, volume 2:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
They caught catfish while fishing in the slow-moving ____ near New Orleans.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The explorers paddled their small boat through the marshy ____ in the south.