bayou
BY-oo or BY-oh
A slow-moving, marshy outlet of a river or lake, especially in the lower Mississippi valley and the Gulf Coast — a sluggish, often cypress-lined waterway connecting lakes, rivers, and swamps. Bayous are neither river nor lake nor swamp but something between all three, and the ecosystem they support is among the richest in North America.
Etymology
Louisiana French, from Choctaw bayuk, a small stream or creek. The word is inseparable from the Gulf Coast landscape.
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