bananas

Origin:
1590–1600; < Spanish < Portuguese (perhaps via Sp); akin to various words for banana or plantain in WAfr languages (e.g., Wolof, Malinke banana, Vai (Mande language of Liberia) bana), but ultimate source and direction of borrowing uncertain

Can be confused: banana, plantain.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source

Link To bananas

00:10

Bananas is always a great word to know.

So is lollapalooza. Does it mean:

an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Collins

World English Dictionary

banana (bəˈnɑːnə)

—n
1.	any of several tropical and subtropical herbaceous treelike plants of the musaceous genus Musa, esp M. sapientum, a widely cultivated species propagated from suckers and having hanging clusters of edible fruit
2.	Compare plantain the crescent-shaped fruit of any of these plants

[C16: from Spanish or Portuguese, of African origin]

bananas (bəˈnɑːnəz)

—*adj*
	slang crazy (esp in the phrase go bananas)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

banana

1590s, borrowed by Sp. or Port. from a W. African word, possibly Wolof banana. The plant introduced to the New World from Africa, 1516. Top banana, second banana, etc. are 1950s, from show business slang use of banana for "comedian, especially in a burlesque show." Banana split first attested 1920. Banana

oil "nonsense" is slang from c.1910.

bananas

"crazy," 1968; earlier (1935) it was noted as an underworld slang term for "sexually perverted."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

Slang Dictionary

banana definition

n.
an American of East Asian descent who acts too much like a Caucasian. (The person is yellow on the outside and white on the inside. Patterned on oreo. See also apple. Rude and derogatory.) : Stop acting like such a banana!

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

bananas definition

mod.
crazy. (Often with go, see also go bananas.) : You were bananas before I ever showed up on the scene.
mod.
enthusiastic. : The audience was bananas over the new star.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Abbreviations & Acronyms

BANANA
build absolutely nothing anywhere near anybody