Etymologically
Log in

canary

Etymology and origin of the English word canary

History Permalink
Formation
Borrowing
Borrowed from
Middle French canarie

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kəˈnɛəɹi/ (UK)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French canarie,[2][3][4] from Spanish canario (“of the Canary Islands”),[5][2][4] from Islas Canarias “Canary Islands”,[5][2] from Latin Canāria (“Isle of Dogs”),[3][6][4] from canis “dog”.[5][3][4][6] Pliny explained the name by the many huge dogs on the island,[4][3] but Etymonline suggests it might instead come from the Canarii, a Berber people of the facing coast.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A light sweet wine from the Canary Islands (1584, per Barnhart and Merriam-Webster),[3][2] or a lively court dance (1592, per the OED).[7]

Semantic evolution

The bird was first called the canary-bird (1576),[3][4] shortened to canary by 1655.[7][3][4] From the bird come the colour (canary yellow) and slang senses: a female singer and an informer, who “sings” to the police.[5][2][6][1]

Timeline

  • 1576 – canary bird.[3]
  • 1584 – Canary wine.[3][2]
  • 1588 – verb, to dance the canary.[7]
  • 1592 – a lively Spanish dance.[7]
  • 1655 – the songbird.[7][3]
  • 1785 – a gold coin.[7]
  • 1854 – adjective, bright yellow.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A small finch of the Canary Islands, greenish to yellow in the wild and bred as a yellow cage bird and singer.
  2. A light, clear yellow colour.
  3. (slang) An informer.
  4. (slang) A woman singer.
  5. A sweet white wine from the Canary Islands.
  6. A lively 16th-century court dance.

Word family

  • canary seed
  • canary yellow
  • canine
  • kennel

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Canary.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/canary. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·