Bayou
//ˈbaɪ.(j)uː// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A slow-moving, often stagnant creek or river.
"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 swampy arm or slow-moving outlet of a lake (term used mainly in Mississippi and Louisiana) wordnet
- 3 A swamp; a marshy (stagnant) body of water.
"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."
Example
More examples"A corpse was found at the bayou just yesterday."
Etymology
From Louisiana French bayou, from Choctaw bayuk (“a creek”). Doublet of bogue.
Related phrases
More for "bayou"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.