What is "bayou"

Bayou \Bay"ou\, n.; pl. Bayous. [North Am. Indian bayuk, in F. spelling bayouc, bayouque.] An inlet from the Gulf of Mexico, from a lake, or from a large river, sometimes sluggish, sometimes without perceptible movement except from tide and wind. [Southern U. S.]

A dark slender thread of a bayou moves loiteringly northeastward into a swamp of huge cypresses.
--G. W. Cable.

1766, via Louisiana French, from Choctaw bayuk "small stream."

n. 1 A slow-moving, often stagnant creek or river. 2 A swamp, a marshy (stagnant) body of water.

n. a swampy arm or slow-moving outlet of a lake (term used mainly in Mississippi and Louisiana)

In usage in the United States, a bayou ( or , from the French) is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area, and can be either an extremely slow-moving stream or river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), or 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.

Bayou may refer to the following:

• bayou, a slow moving stream.
• George Balanchine's 1952 Bayou (ballet)
• Bayou Records, a music recording label.
• Bayou Hedge Fund Group, an infamous ponzi scheme (2005).
• Bayou, a prominent literary magazine.
• Bayou Arcana a 2012 comic anthology

• " Blue Bayou"
• " Born on the Bayou"
• " Jambalaya (On the Bayou)"
• " Fire on the Bayou"
• " Fiyo on the Bayou"

Bayou is a ballet made by New York City Ballet's co-founder and ballet master George Balanchine to Virgil Thomson's Acadian Songs and Dances (1947). The premiere took place on 21 February 1952 at City Center of Music and Drama, New York.

Bayou is a major American literary magazine based at the University of New Orleans. The magazine was established in 2003 and is published on a biannual basis. It features poetry, fiction, essays and the winner of the annual Tennessee Williams One-Act Play Contest. Bayou published through the dislocations surrounding the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Work that has appeared in Bayou has been short-listed for the Pushcart Prize.

Bayou (1954–1982) was an American Thoroughbred racemare who was bred and raced by Bull Hancock's Claiborne Farm. and who was voted the American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly of 1957.

Bred in Kentucky, Bayou was sired by U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Hill Prince and out of the mare, Bourtai. She was trained by Moody Jolley

Bayou was a 1957 motion picture directed by Harold Daniels. The drama was set in the Louisiana bayou region. Produced by American National Films, it was also shot in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, and most of the characters are Cajun residents of a rural fishing village. Bayou features one of the few lead roles by noted character actor Timothy Carey.