Meanings
banaba1
plural banabas
- A Southeast Asian tree (Lagerstroemia speciosa), with medicinal leaves.
Synonyms: giant crape-myrtle, Queen's crape-myrtle, pride of India
Banaba2
- An island of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean, a former site of phosphate mining.
The last decent rain on Banaba was more than a year ago. […] Alofa says elders would like to see Australia and New Zealand fund a team of researchers to travel to Banaba to assess the damage and repair the caves.
2021 June 8, Joshua Mcdonald, “The island with no water: how foreign mining destroyed Banaba”, in The GuardianSynonyms: Ocean Island
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA Southeast Asian tree (Lagerstroemia speciosa), with medicinal leaves.
proper nounAn island of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean, a former site of phosphate mining.
Origin
banaba · noun
- Proto-Philippine*banabá
- Englishbanaba
Ultimately from Proto-Philippine *banabá. Compare Tagalog banabá, Cebuano banaba, Kapampangan [Term?].
More words from Proto-Philippine
Full word history & related roots →Banaba · proper noun
- Gilbertese[Term?]
- EnglishBanaba
Borrowed from Gilbertese [Term?].
More words from Gilbertese
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
banaba. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/banaba
“banaba.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/banaba. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “banaba,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/banaba.
Source: banaba on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.