Definition

1. Noun:
   • Banana: A long, curved fruit with a yellow skin and soft, sweet, starchy flesh when ripe, growing in clusters on a tropical herbaceous plant of the genus Musa.
   • Banana plant: The large tropical plant (genus Musa) that bears this fruit, characterized by large elongated leaves and a soft, tree-like pseudostem.

Usage Examples

• Noun (fruit):
  • Tôi thích ăn một quả chuối mỗi sáng. (I like to eat a banana every morning.)
  • Chuối ở đây rất ngọt. (The bananas here are very sweet.)
• Noun (plant):
  • Vườn nhà họ trồng nhiều cây chuối. (Their garden has many banana plants.)

Advanced Usage

• "chuối chát": A green, unripe banana that is starchy and astringent, often used in cooking.
  • Gỏi cá ăn kèm với chuối chát. (Fish salad is served with green banana.)
• "trượt vỏ chuối" (idiomatic): Literally "to slip on a banana peel"; figuratively, to fail an exam or a test unexpectedly.
  • Nó lo lắng sẽ trượt vỏ chuối trong kỳ thi. (He is worried he will fail the exam.)

Variants and Related Words

• Buồng chuối (n): A whole stalk or cluster of bananas.
  • Họ hái cả một buồng chuối. (They harvested an entire stalk of bananas.)
• Nải chuối (n): A hand of bananas; a smaller cluster, typically what is sold at a market.
  • Mua một nải chuối về để chín. (Buy a hand of bananas to ripen.)
• Cây chuối (n): The banana plant or tree.
  • Lá chuối thường được dùng để gói bánh. (Banana leaves are often used to wrap cakes.)

Synonyms

• Banana: The primary English equivalent for the fruit.
• Plantain: A cooking banana, often larger and starchier, sometimes referred to as "chuối lá" or "chuối hột" in specific contexts.

Related Idioms

• "Già như chuối chín cây": Literally "old like a ripe banana on the plant"; a respectful saying comparing an elderly person to a ripe banana, implying they have lived a full life and are venerable.
  • Bà cụ giờ già như chuối chín cây. (The old lady is now venerable with age.)
• "Ăn muối còn hơn ăn chuối chát": Literally "eating salt is better than eating a green banana"; a proverb suggesting it is better to have a little of something good (salt, essential) than a lot of something unpleasant or useless (green banana).

noun

1. Banana
   • quả chuối (bananas)