rhizoverbBeta
DictionarybayouMarshy waterway
noun

bayou

BYE-oo/ˈbaɪuː/

A slow-moving marshy waterway, especially in the southern United States.

The sluggish bayou winds between marshy banks and bald cypress trees.

A narrow, winding bayou with nearly still water, waterlogged grassy banks, and a few bald cypress trees rooted at the marshy edges.
Etymology
bayouChoctawsmall stream

Choctaw bayuk meant “small stream”; the English word emphasizes the watercourse’s sluggish flow, often as an outlet of a lake or river.

In context

Dose Of History10:55
From Lake Borgne, British troops had to traverse miles of bayou, swamp, and marsh to reach dry ground south of New Orleans.
The BLOODBATH of British Troops at New Orleans Was Hidden From History

More examples

  • Birds gather along the marshy edge of the bayou.
  • Several narrow bayous connect the lake with the river.
  • The story takes place near a Louisiana bayou.

Forms

bayou · bayous

Similar words

creek
Can be faster and need not pass through marshland.
channel
Any defined water passage, including artificial or fast-flowing ones.