canal
Pronunciation
- IPA: /kəˈnæl/[1]
Etymology
It is Middle English, borrowed from Middle French canal (“water channel, pipe”),[2][3][4] from Latin canālis (“pipe, groove, channel”),[2][3][5] a noun use of an adjective from canna (“reed”) (see cane).[3][5] It is a doublet of channel.[2][4]
Earliest recorded meaning
A pipe for liquid: probably before 1425, in a translation of Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie, in Barnhart, about 1449 in the OED;[2][6] Etymonline has the anatomical sense, a passage in the body, from the early 15th century.[3]
Semantic evolution
A tubular cavity in the body or in plant tissue is from 1626 in the OED.[6] A watercourse or channel generally is from 1538, now obsolete,[6] and an ornamental strip of water in a garden from 1663–64.[6] The modern sense, an artificial waterway for navigation or irrigation, is first recorded in 1673.[2][3][6] The supposed canals of Mars are from 1888.[6]
Timeline
- c. 1449 – a pipe.[6]
- 1626 – a duct in the body.[6]
- 1663 – an ornamental canal.[6]
- 1673 – an artificial waterway.[2][6]
- 1888 – the canals of Mars.[6]
Modern meaning
Noun
- An artificial waterway for boats or for irrigation.
- (anatomy) A tubular duct or passage in the body: the alimentary canal.
Word family
- canaller
- canalize
- auditory canal
- ear canal
- Panama Canal
- ship canal
- Suez Canal
- alimentary canal
Related words
- channel
- channelize
- canalization
- cane
- cannon
- kennel
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press