bayou

American  

[bahy-oo, bahy-oh] / ˈbaɪ u, ˈbaɪ oʊ /

noun

Chiefly Lower Mississippi Valley and Gulf States.

• bayous
  plural

1. a marshy arm, inlet, or outlet of a lake, river, etc., usually sluggish or stagnant.

2. any of various other often boggy and slow-moving or still bodies of water.

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bayou British  

/ ˈbaɪjuː /

noun

1. (in the southern US) a sluggish marshy tributary of a lake or river

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bayou Scientific  

/ bī′o̅o̅ /

1. A sluggish, marshy stream connected with a river, lake, or gulf. Bayous are common in the southern United States.

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bayou Cultural  

1. Term used mainly in Louisiana and Mississippi to describe a swampy, slowly moving or stationary body of water that was once part of a lake, river, or gulf.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• bayous
  plural

Etymology

Origin of bayou

An Americanism first recorded in 1710–20; from Louisiana French bayou, bayouc, bayouque, likely from obsolete Choctaw bayuk “creek, river” (modern Choctaw bok ); compare Chickasaw bok

Explanation

Imagine a large, sluggish, often stagnant body of water and you are probably thinking about a bayou, a marshy inlet or outlet of a lake or river. Perhaps the most famous bayou in the United States is found in Louisiana. The term bayou is a true Americanism, most probably evolving in the early 19th century from the Choctaw word bayuk, meaning "small stream," and making its way into the Louisiana French language. There is a culture specific to the Gulf of Mexico bayou areas from Texas to Florida, a mingling of the early Acadian settlers, known as "Cajuns," and the Creole culture. The bayou is a fragile ecosystem that is threatened by pollutants and environmental disasters, such as oil spills.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bayou bayous

The day after Ida struck, Story motored through the bayou in his boat, photographing his camp and others to reassure neighbors their cabins had survived.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026

Based in Houma, in the heart of the Louisiana bayou, they began enjoying increased prices for their catch last year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 31, 2025

“Tiana goes, ‘No. We found you in the bayou.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2024

At the end of May, dusk yawns deep over the bayou, spinning orange-pink gold across summer-green front lawns, softening the day-bleached glare of pearlshell gravel roads.

From Salon ● May 10, 2024

We marched to the little dock at the south wing of the island, and prepared to get in a bayou boat.

From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton

The family’s roots sprang from enslaved forebears, including Willie Rosenthal, whose dozen children and grandchildren rose from the Central Louisiana bayous to attain social and professional prominence.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026

“But our Giselle was transposed out of Austria to the bayous of Louisiana, so it made it relevant to us at the time.”

From New York Times ● Mar. 31, 2024

A longtime hunter, he had been raised in Orange County but born to roam — into the bayous of Louisiana and the mountains of Colorado and many points between.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2023

The flat, sparsely populated land divided by the Mississippi River delta is marbled by bayous and bays.

From Washington Times ● Aug. 10, 2023

“Yes. But not today. Today we join expert tour guide Merle Hodge on a lavish journey through the Arkansas bayous to seek out the elusive Lazarus woodpecker.”

From "Where Things Come Back" by John Corey Whaley

Related Words

• backwater