Canuck

Meaning

Noun

1. (Canada, US, derogatory, informal, sometimes) A Canadian person; specifically (archaic), a French Canadian person; a pea-souper; also (obsolete) a Canadian person of other non-English descent.
2. (Canada, US, derogatory, informal, sometimes) A Canadian person; specifically (archaic), a French Canadian person; a pea-souper; also (obsolete) a Canadian person of other non-English descent.
3. (Canada, US, derogatory, informal, sometimes) A Canadian person; specifically (archaic), a French Canadian person; a pea-souper; also (obsolete) a Canadian person of other non-English descent.
4. (rare) A thing from Canada.
5. (historical, rare) A thing from Canada.
6. (US, obsolete, rare) A thing from Canada.

Name

1. (historical, rare) Synonym of Canadian French (“the French language as spoken by Francophones in Canada”).
2. (slang) Synonym of Canadian English (“the variety of the English language used in Canada”).

Adj

1. (derogatory, sometimes) Of, belonging to, or relating to Canada, its culture, or people; Canadian.
2. Of or relating to the Vancouver Canucks professional ice hockey team belonging to the National Hockey League.

Opposite of

non-Canadian

Synonyms

Canadian

🇨🇦

canadian

French Canadian

Translations

كندي

canadenc

🇨🇦

kanadisch

🇨🇦

canadien

🇨🇦

canadienne

canadiennne

canadese

🇨🇦

canadesi

canadense

canadensis

🇨🇦

Canadees

🇨🇦

canadenc

canadian

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kəˈnʌk/

Etymology

Cognate with French: canaque

Cognate with English: Kanak

Cognate with German: Kanake

In summary

Origin uncertain, often hypothesized to derive from the name or speech of an early Canadian minority, later broadened to denote all Canadians:
* Since 1975, many scholars have come to think the name is from Hawaiian kanaka (“man”), a self-appellation of indentured colonial canoemen and Hawaiian sailors working off the Pacific Northwest, Arctic, and New England coasts, from French canaque (“indigenous Melanesian inhabitant of New Caledonia, Kanak”); or, more likely, American whalers’ pidgin, then re-interpreted as Can(adian) + a suffix. (More below on that [specific] putative suffix.) Compare English Kanak and German Kanake.
* Some dictionaries suggest it is derived from the first syllable of Canada, or its etymon Laurentian kanata (“village”), or a related word kanuchsa meaning “villager” in either Laurentian or another Iroquoian language; with the second syllable connected to Inuktitut inuk (“man; person”), from Chinook (“Aboriginal people of the U.S. Pacific Northwest”), or another First-Nation language ending like -oc, -uc, or -uq.
* Fanciful and unlikely suggestions include German genug von Canada (literally “enough of Canada”) (allegedly uttered by German mercenaries during the American War of Independence), French quelle canule (“what a bore”) (allegedly uttered by the French during a siege of Quebec), or the surname Connaught /ˈkɑ.nəxt/ (supposedly a French-Canadian nickname for the Irish).