Meaning & use
bayou
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Meaning
nouncountableAmerican
A slow, shallow stream or marshy inlet in flat, low land, especially in the southern United States.
Grammar: Countable: one bayou, many bayous. Often capitalized in names like Bayou Teche.
Patterns
- a bayou in Louisiana
We took a small boat through the bayou at dawn.
Cypress trees draped in moss lined the bayou.
The family fished in the bayou behind their house.
Word forms
| plural | bayous |
|---|
Common combinations
- Louisiana bayou
- They toured a Louisiana bayou by boat.
- bayou country
- Bayou country is known for its food and music.
- swampy bayou
- A swampy bayou stretched behind the cabin.
- fish in the bayou
- Fish in the bayou include catfish and bass.
- bayou cuisine
- Bayou cuisine uses plenty of seafood and spice.
Synonyms and how they differ
- marsh
- Marsh names any soft wetland, while bayou is a specific slow waterway in it.
- swamp
- Swamp stresses wooded wetland, while bayou stresses the sluggish channel of water.
- creek
- A creek is a small stream with a clear current, unlike the barely moving bayou.
- backwater
- Backwater is a stretch of still water beside a river and is wider than bayou.
Word family
- bayous noun
- plural form
- bayou-side adjective
- located beside a bayou
- swamp noun
- a related wet, wooded landscape
Commonly confused: bayou or bayonet? bayou or buoy?
bayou vs bayonet
A bayonet is a blade fixed on a rifle; it only shares the first letters.
bayou vs buoy
A buoy is a floating marker, and is sometimes said with a similar sound.
Practice
Which place would you most likely call a bayou?
Choose one answer.
A bayou is a sluggish marshy waterway, strongly linked with Louisiana. The other places lack standing marsh water.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bayou”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.