Canaan

Meaning

1. A historic region of the Middle East, roughly equivalent to Palestine/Israel.
2. A grandson of Noah.
3. (rare) A male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.
4. The name of multiple places in North America named after the historic region, including:
5. The name of multiple places in North America named after the historic region, including:

Synonyms

Palestine

Holy Land

Promised Land

Translations

Kanaän

Canaan

Canaan

Canaã

Canaan

Canaán

Kanaan

Canaan

Χαναάν

كنعان

Chanaan

Pays de Canaan

La Terre promise

Terre Sainte

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkeɪnən/

Etymology

Taken (at least as early as Wycliffe's Bible, 1382-1395, which has Chanaan) from Ecclesiastical Latin Chanaān, from Ancient Greek Χαναάν (Khanaán), expanded from Χνᾶ (Khnâ), from Hebrew כְּנַעַן (k'ná'an). The first vowel shifted from /aː/ to /eɪ/ in the Great Vowel Shift; at least as early as Milton (1660s), the word could already be pronounced with two syllables, though at least as late as the 1880s it could also be pronounced with three, /ˈkeɪ.nə.æn/.