balloon

Meanings

1. A thin rubber bag that can be filled with air or gas until it is round.
2. A large bag filled with hot air or gas that carries people in the sky.

Example sentences

• "The children blew up red and blue balloons."

  Level A1, Meaning 1

• "A hot-air balloon floated over the valley."

  Level A2, Meaning 2

• "The balloon burst with a loud pop."

  Level A2, Meaning 1

• "She tied a balloon to the gate for the party."

  Level A1, Meaning 1

Look-alikes and common mistakes

• bubble : A bubble is a thin ball of liquid filled with air. A balloon is made of rubber or plastic.
• blimp : A blimp is a large airship. A balloon can be small and can float or be held.

Word family and forms

Forms: balloons

Word partners

Words and phrases that often go with "balloon".

• blow up a balloon
• a hot-air balloon
• a party balloon
• a balloon pops
• a helium balloon
• a speech balloon

Origin

Balloon came into English in the 1570s from Upper Italian ballone, a form of palla, a ball, with an ending that makes it bigger. It first meant a large ball used in a game. The meaning of an air-filled bag, and later a flying one, followed.

Checked against: Wiktionary, the free dictionary, Dictionary.com.

How to remember it

Balloon has two l's and two o's: bal-loon. It looks like the round object it names.

Test yourself

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