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bamboo

Pronunciation: /bæmˈbu/

The English word “bamboo” has 9 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. Any of the fast-growing grasses of the Bambusoideae subfamily, characterized by its woody, hollow, round, straight, jointed stem.
  2. Wood of the bamboo plant as a material for building, furniture, etc.
  3. A stick, rod, pole, or cane of bamboo, especially one used as a vessel for liquids, or as a tool for corporal punishment.
  4. A didgeridoo.
  5. A member of the British military or British East India Company who spent so much time in Indonesia, India, or Malaysia that they never returned home.

adjective

  1. Made of the wood of the bamboo.

verb

  1. To flog with a bamboo cane.
  2. To paint (furniture, etc.) to give it the appearance of bamboo.
  3. To penetrate sexually.

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch bamboe, from Portuguese bambu, from Malay bambu, from Kannada ಬಂಬು (bambu), variant form of ಬೇವು (bēvu). Cognate with Malayalam വേപ്പ് (vēppŭ), Telugu వేప (vēpa), from Proto-Dravidian *wēmpu (“neem”).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.