banjo

From the pronunciation of African slaves, of unknown ultimate origin. Possibly a corruption of bandore (from Spanish bandurria), alternatively from a West African language such as Mandinka banjul, or Kimbundu mbanza. ^[1]

• (UK) enPR: băn'jō, IPA^(key): /ˈbæn.dʒəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbæn.d͡ʒoʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

banjo (plural banjos or banjoes)

1. A stringed musical instrument (chordophone), usually with a round body, a membrane-like soundboard and a fretted neck, played by plucking or strumming the strings.

   I come from Alabama with my banjo on my knee...

   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:banjo.
2. Any of various similar musical instruments, such as the Tuvan doshpuluur, with a membrane-like soundboard.
3. (slang) An object shaped like a banjo, especially a frying pan or a shovel.
4. (UK, Dagenham) A cul-de-sac with a round end.
   • 1963, Peter Willmott, The Evolution of a Community, page 75:

     They all came back here — we cleared the room and put up tables for the reception — and then we went to another house on the banjo for a "knees-up".

   • 2013, M. C. Dutton, The Godfathers of London:

     Billy Tower lived in the far left house in the banjo that was Dagenham's version of cul de sacs. The trouble was you could be seen from the house and, in the time it took to walk along the Banjo, drugs could be flushed away.

   • 2013, Martin Crookston, Garden Suburbs of Tomorrow?:

     The banjo format is not an unalloyed success these days: kids playing noisily on the quite narrow common green […]

5. (mining) A miner's round-nosed shovel.
6. (Malaysia) An egg sandwich fried on a flattop and served in a bun as would a burger, ellipsis of egg banjo.

• English: benjo
• → Esperanto: banĝo
• → Irish: bainseo
• → Japanese: バンジョー
• → Macedonian: бенџо (bendžo)
• → Mongolian: банжо (banžo)
• → Russian: банджо (bandžo)
• → Thai: แบนโจ (bɛɛn-joo)
• → Welsh: banjô
• → Yiddish: באַנדזשאָ (bandzho)

• Appendix:Glossary of chordophones

banjo (third-person singular simple present banjos, present participle banjoing, simple past and past participle banjoed)

1. To play a banjo.
2. (transitive, slang, British) To beat, to knock down.
   • 1989, Susan S. M. Edwards, Policing 'domestic' Violence: Women, the Law and the State, page 95:

     Admitting the assault, the husband said that he had given her a 'banjoing' but that she had asked for it.

   • 1998, "Fergie's world just gets Madar" (Sport), Sunday Mail, Jan 4, 1998

     Madar was turfed out on a final misdemeanour of banjoing one of his teammates in training before a big game

   • 2007 July 31, “Return of Smeato, the extraordinary hero”, in Times Online:

     "Me and other folk were just trying to get the boot in and some other guy banjoed [decked] him”.

3. (transitive, slang, British, military) To shell or attack (a target).
   • 2008, Michael Asher, The Regiment: The Definitive Story of the SAS, page cxxx:

     Riding reported that on the day Mayne had asked for DZ coordinates, their base had been banjoed by the Germans.

• Alice Parkinson, Music (2006), p. 22.

Borrowed from Italian bagno. Compare Greek μπάνιο (bánio).

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaɲo/
• Rhymes: -aɲo

banjo f (plural banjo, definite banjoja)

1. alternative form of banjë
   • 2002, Ibrahim Kadriu, Spirale muzgu:

     Ndërkaq atë fletore Flora Drishti e kishte fshehur në banjo, prapa arkës së ujit të nevojtores.

     Meanwhile Flora Drishti had hidden that notebook in the bathroom, behind the tank of the toilet.

• Dashi, B. (2013) “bagno”, in Italianismi nella lingua albanese (in Italian), Edizioni Nuova Cultura, →ISBN, page 87

• IPA^(key): [ˈbanjo]

banjo n

1. banjo

   Synonym: (much less common) benžo

• “banjo”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957

Borrowed from English banjo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɑn.joː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ban‧jo

banjo m (plural banjo's, diminutive banjootje n)

1. banjo (stringed instrument)

• → Indonesian: banyo

From English banjo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɑnjo/, [ˈbɑ̝njo̞]
• Rhymes: -ɑnjo
• Syllabification^(key): ban‧jo
• Hyphenation^(key): ban‧jo

banjo

1. banjo

• “banjo”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

• IPA^(key): /bɑ̃.ʒo/, /bɑ̃.dʒo/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

banjo m (plural banjos)

1. banjo

• “banjo”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

banjō

1. romanization of 𐌱𐌰𐌽𐌾𐍉

Borrowed from Danish banjo, from English banjo.

banjo

1. banjo

Borrowed from English banjo.

• IPA^(key): [ˈband͡ʒo]
• Hyphenation: ban‧jo

banjo (plural banjo-banjo)

1. alternative form of banyo

• “banjo” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

banjo m (invariable)

1. (music) banjo

banjo (Jawi spelling بنجو, plural banjo-banjo)

1. (music) banjo

• “banjo” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

From English banjo, 18th century black American rendition of bandore.

banjo m (definite singular banjoen, indefinite plural banjoer, definite plural banjoene)

1. (music) a banjo

• “banjo” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From English banjo, as above.

banjo m (definite singular banjoen, indefinite plural banjoar, definite plural banjoane)

1. (music) a banjo

• “banjo” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• bandżo

Unadapted borrowing from English banjo, from bandore, from Spanish bandurria, from Latin pandūra, from Ancient Greek πανδοῦρα (pandoûra). Doublet of bandura and mandola.

• IPA^(key): /ˈban.d͡ʐɔ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -and͡ʐɔ
• Syllabification: ban‧jo

banjo n (indeclinable)

1. (music) banjo

• banjo in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• banjo in Polish dictionaries at PWN

• Hyphenation: ban‧jo

banjo m (plural banjos)

1. (music) banjo (a musical instrument)

Borrowed from French banjo.

banjo n (plural banjouri)

1. banjo

• banyo

Unadapted borrowing from English banjo.

• Rhymes: -anʝo
• Syllabification: ban‧jo

banjo m (plural banjos or banjoes)

1. banjo

• “banjo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

Borrowed from English banjo.

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

banjo class IX (plural banjo class X)

1. banjo

banjo c

1. (music) banjo

• banjo in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• banjo in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

• bojan

• banjô

Borrowed from English banjo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈband͡ʒɔ/

banjo m (plural banjos or banjoau)

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “banjo”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Borrowed from English banjo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbanjoː/

banjo c (plural banjo's, diminutive banjoke)

1. banjo

• “banjo”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011