Bayou

Bayou Corne in Louisiana, October 2010

A bayou (/ˈbaɪ.oʊ/ or /ˈbaɪjuː/) is a Franco-English term used in the United States for a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area, and can refer either to an extremely slow-moving stream or river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), or to a marshy lake or wetland. The name "bayou" can also refer to a creek whose current reverses daily due to tides and which contains brackish water highly conducive to fish life and plankton. Bayous are commonly found in the Gulf Coast region of the southern United States, notably the Mississippi River Delta, with the states of Louisiana and Texas being famous for them. A bayou is frequently an anabranch or minor braid of a braided channel that is moving much more slowly than the mainstem, often becoming boggy and stagnant. Though fauna varies by region, many bayous are home to crawfish, certain species of shrimp, other shellfish, catfish, frogs, toads, American alligators, American crocodiles, herons, turtles, spoonbills, snakes, leeches and myriad other species.

Aerial view of body of water (circa 1920, Buffalo Bayou, Houston, Texas)

Etymology

The word was first used by the English in Louisiana and is thought to originate from the Choctaw word "bayuk", which means "small stream".^[1] The first settlements of Bayou Teche, and other bayous, were by the Creoles, and that is why bayous are associated with Creole culture. An alternative spelling, "buyou", has also been used, as in "Pine Buyou", used in a description by Congress in 1833 of Arkansas Territory.

Geography

Bayou Country is most closely associated with Cajun and Creole cultural groups native to the Gulf Coast region generally stretching from Houston, Texas, to Mobile, Alabama, and picking back up in South Florida around the Everglades with its center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Notable examples

• Bayou Bartholomew
• Bayou Lafourche
• Bayou Teche
• Cypress Bayou
• Bayou St. John
• Big Bayou Canot
• Buffalo Bayou
• Bayou La Batre

See also

• Backswamp
• "Blue Bayou", a 1961 song by Roy Orbison
• "Born on the Bayou", a 1968 song on rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival's second album Bayou Country (1969)
• Billabong
• Oxbow lake
• Hurricane on the Bayou
• Houston
• New Orleans
• Texas
• Louisiana
• Florida
• Yazoo stream

References

1. Online Etymology Dictionary, Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th edition