Canada
/[kʰɛəɾ̃əɾə]/ name, noun, slang
name, noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A country bordering a larger country that shares many similarities with it, but is overshadowed by the more prominent larger. US, informal
"Belgium is France's Canada."
- 2 A traditional Portuguese unit of liquid volume equal to 1.7–2.1 liters depending on the area of Portugal, used particularly for wine. historical
- 3 Alternative form of cañada (“a ravine, a gully”). alt-of, alternative
Proper Noun
- 1 A country in North America. Capital: Ottawa. Largest city: Toronto. countable, uncountable
"Father narrated the story of how Canada developed over a short period to surpass other countries, including Britain, from which it had emerged."
- 2 Lower Canada 1791–1840 (also Canada East 1840–1867, now province of Quebec) or respectively Upper Canada (Canada West, now province of Ontario), often “the Canadas” (or politically, “United Canada” 1840–1867). countable, historical, uncountable
- 3 (1608–1763) The most active province of New France. Nowadays corresponds to the territory of much of Quebec, Ontario, and several US states (aligning with the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa River plains and Great Lakes plains, and Laurentians) countable, historical, uncountable
- 4 A surname. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"We can clearly see the cycle of the seasons in Canada."
Etymology
Etymology 1
Borrowed from French Canada, from the Laurentian kanata (“village, settlement”) (compare Onondaga gana꞉dá꞉yęʼ), ultimately from Proto-North Iroquoian *-nat-. See also "Name of Canada" on English Wikipedia.
Etymology 2
From Portuguese canada, from Latin cannatus.
Etymology 3
From Spanish cañada, from Latin canna (“cane”) + -ada (“-ed”).
Related phrases
More for "canada"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.