n. 支流

[ noun ]
a swampy arm or slow-moving outlet of a lake (term used mainly in Mississippi and Louisiana)
<noun.object>

Bayou \Bay"ou\, n.; pl. {Bayous}. [North Am. Indian bayuk, in F.
spelling bayouc, bayouque.]
An inlet from the Gulf of Mexico, from a lake, or from a
large river, sometimes sluggish, sometimes without
perceptible movement except from tide and wind. [Southern U.
S.]

A dark slender thread of a bayou moves loiteringly
northeastward into a swamp of huge cypresses. --G. W.
Cable.