Banane

See also: banane and banané

German

Alternative forms

• Banana (obsolete; until 19th c.)

Etymology

16th century, from Portuguese banana, from a Niger-Congo language of West Africa. A further origin from Arabic بَنان (banān, “fingertips”) has been considered, but there is no particular reason to believe the similarity to be anything but coincidental. (The use of بنان for “banana” in Maghrebi Arabic dialects is borrowed from European languages.) The German form in -e is attested from the 19th century, though it may be somewhat older in speech.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baˈnaːnə/

• Audio:

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• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

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• Audio (Austria):

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Noun

Banane f (genitive Banane, plural Bananen, diminutive Banänchen n)

1. banana (fruit or tree)

Declension

Declension of Banane [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Banane	die	Bananen
genitive	einer	der	Banane	der	Bananen
dative	einer	der	Banane	den	Bananen
accusative	eine	die	Banane	die	Bananen

Descendants

• → Estonian: banaan
• → Hunsrik: Banann

Further reading

• “Banane” in Duden online
• “Banane”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)