bai-u / bayou [ˈbʌɪju:]
bai-u – n. – early to midsummer seasonal rains in Japan, also known as the plum rains or mold rains
bayou – n. – swampy, slow-flowing river and lake off-shoots in southern United States, usually larger than a creek and smaller than a river
Bai-u, Baiu
The former determines the beginning and the end of the baiu season while the latter forms seasonal steps inherent to the baiu season, such as the forerunner and the pause of the baiu.
~ The Baiu in a historical period from the viewpoint of intra-seasonal variations (1993) – Akihiko M. Murata
Bayou
Bayous attracted Louisiana’s early settlers because they were full of harvestable fish and game, and served as transportation routes in the absence of roads. Even Better, the bayou banks, formed by silt from millennia of floods, provided habitable high ground in a place where high ground was rare.
~Gumbo Life: Tales from the Roux Bayou (2019) – Ken Wells