Bayou, << BY oo or BY oh, >> is a shallow, curving channel filled with slow-moving, sometimes stagnant water. The term was used by the French settlers of the lower Mississippi River, its delta, and the adjacent drainage areas of Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi. It is seldom used outside that area. It may have derived from the French word boyau, meaning gut or channel. The word bayou refers to an abandoned river channel; a slow-moving stream draining a swamp or shallow lake; or an oxbow (horseshoe-shaped) lake.
