Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

second banana

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.99 in modern English

Syllables: sec-ond banana
IPA

17

Scrabble Score

12

Letters

2

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A comedian who plays a secondary or supporting role, especially as straight man and traditionally in vaudeville or burlesque theatre.

Colloquial

noun

A person who serves in a supporting, secondary, or subsidiary capacity; an assistant.

Colloquial

Example Sentences

"He grew disenchanted with playing second banana and never getting credit for the laughter."
"The plumber left his second banana behind, to finish installing my new sink."
"When you want to be the boss, but you can't, it's not a lot of fun to be second banana."

Usage

Colloquial

Inflected Forms

second bananas (plural)

Phrases

top banana second fiddle

Frequently Paired Words

top banana second fiddle

Synonyms

second fiddle

Questions

What does second banana mean?: A comedian who plays a secondary or supporting role, especially as straight man and traditionally in vaudeville or burlesque theatre.

How to pronounce second banana

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “second banana”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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Repeat and practice — Say “second banana” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.