banana republic

English

Etymology

Coined by American author O. Henry in 1901 in his short story Money Maze, set in the fictional "Anchuria", which was based on his 1896–97 stay in Honduras.

Pronunciation

  • Audio (General Australian):(file)

Noun

banana republic (plural banana republics)

  1. (politics, idiomatic, derogatory) A small country, especially one in Central America or the West Indies, that is dependent on a single export commodity (traditionally bananas) and that has a corrupt, dictatorial government.
    Hypernym: kleptocracy
    Near-synonym: republiqueta
    • 1901 May, O. Henry, “Money Maze”, in Ainslee's Magazine‎[1], volume vii, number 4, New York, page 305:
      At that time we had a treaty with about every foreign country except Belgium, and that banana republic, Anchuria.
    • 2001, Cindy Forster, The Time of Freedom: Campesino Workers in Guatemala's October Revolution, University of Pittsburgh Press, →ISBN, page 117:
      The banana workers of this former banana republic were exceptionally well organized and effective in their demands from the very beginning of the revolution.
    • 2007 September 10, Marcel Berlins, “Media have rushed to judge Portuguese police”, in The Guardian‎[2]:
      The McCanns, it is hinted and sometimes expressed explicitly, cannot possibly be treated fairly under this inadequate Portuguese system. There is a touch of arrogant xenophobia here, as if Portugal was some backward banana republic […]

Translations

Further reading

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English banana republic.

Noun

banana republic f (invariable)

  1. (rare, politics, idiomatic, derogatory) banana republic
    Synonym: repubblica delle banane
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