bayou

American  

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

noun

Chiefly Lower Mississippi Valley and Gulf States.

plural

bayous

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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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

The bayou battle breaks new ground: It marks a rare instance where an electric utility has been allowed to cut off customers through a regulatory process called abandonment.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026

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

The intimacy of the Geffen Playhouse’s second stage helped crystallize Tarell Alvin McCraney’s “The Brothers Size,” part of the playwright’s acclaimed “Brother/Sister” trilogy set in the Louisiana bayou and incorporating West African mythology.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 9, 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

He’s mad—he must be mad, way I’ve been forgetting all about him, way I haven't been going down to the bayou to look for him, way I’ve been doing nothing but thinking of Sandy.

From "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender

Related Words

• backwater