bidonville

American  

[bee-dawn-veel] / bi dɔ̃ˈvil /

noun

• bidonvilles
  plural

1. (especially in France and North Africa) an impoverished shantytown on the outskirts of a city.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• bidonvilles
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of bidonville

First recorded in 1950–55; from French, equivalent to bidon “metal drum, can (for oil, etc.)” (earlier, “five-pint wooden jug”; of uncertain origin) + -ville, combining form, in placenames, of ville “city,” from Latin vīlla villa; metal cans are often used as building materials in such towns

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bidonville bidonvilles

By Tim Padgett / Port-au-Prince Backhoes and other rubble-removal equipment can't climb the steep hills and narrow streets of the bidonville, or slum, known as Carrefour-Feuilles in Port-au-Prince.

From Time ● Mar. 1, 2010

The venture is an economic engine for the bidonville and a sustainable one as well, since it provides an alternative to the traditional charcoal fuel that has contributed to Haiti's vast deforestation.

From Time ● Mar. 1, 2010

A 1964 law had officially banned the bidonvilles, but their population was growing.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 29, 2018

But how many Americans think of the appalling squalor of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, the bidonvilles of Algiers, the vecindades of Mexico City, or the nocturnal streets, littered with sleeping bodies, of Calcutta?

From Time Magazine Archive

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