bandes

Bandes is the plural of bande in French, meaning a long strip, ribbon, or border. Used across many fields, the term also appears in English-language contexts when referring to French terms or imported concepts. Its precise sense depends on context, but it generally connotes a narrow, elongated piece or a series of parallel elements.

In design and nature, bandes describe stripes or color bands on surfaces, textiles, animal coats, shells, rocks, or architectural details. They can be decorative or functional, indicating pattern, texture, or segmentation.

In culture and media, the word appears in several common phrases. A bandes dessinées refers to comics, literally “drawn strips” or panels. In music, a bande can mean a group of musicians, and bandes can denote multiple such groups. In fashion and heraldry, decorative bands or ribbons are used on clothing, uniforms, or insignia to signify rank, affiliation, or style.

In science and technology, bandes de fréquences are frequency bands—ranges of radio spectrum allocated for particular uses, such as television, mobile networks, or satellite communication. Banding also describes repeating patterns in biology (banding patterns on organisms), chemistry, and microscopy, where distinct stripes or zones appear in a sample or image.

In anthropology and sociology, the term band or bandes can refer to a small, kin-based social unit of hunter-gatherers, though the singular English term “band” is more common in many contexts. The French plural bandes, therefore, spans practical, cultural, and scientific uses, all tied by the core idea of elongated or parallel elements arranged in succession.