Canuck

English

WOTD – 1 July 2024

Etymology

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. 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).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /kəˈnʌk/, /kəˈnʊk/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌk, -ʊk
• Hyphenation: Can‧uck

Noun

Canuck (plural Canucks)

2. (Canada, US, informal, sometimes derogatory) A Canadian person; specifically (archaic), a French Canadian person; a pea-souper; also (obsolete) a Canadian person of other descent. [from early 19th c.]

   Synonyms: Canadian, Canajan, Canajun, Johnny Canuck

   • 1835, Henry Cook Todd, Notes Upon Canada and the United States, page 92:

     Jonathan distinguishes a Dutch or a French Canadian, by the term Kanuk.

   • 1849, James Edward Alexander, L'Acadie; or, Seven Years' Explorations in British America, volume 1, London: Henry Colburn, pages 272–3:

     We saw a few partridges: we also met a lusty fellow in a forest road with a keg of whisky slung round him, who called to us ‘Come boys and have some grog, I'm what you call a canuck:’ a (Canadian).

   • 1889, John G. Donkin, Trooper and Redskin in the Far North-West: Recollections of Life in the North-West Mounted Police, Canada, 1884-1888, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, page 148:

     It is a pity these Canadian militiamen spoilt the good work they had done by never-failing bluster. But for pure and unadulterated brag I will back the lower-class Canuck against the world. The Yankee is a very sucking dove compared to his northern neighbour.

3. (rare) A thing from Canada.
   • 1887 February 19, Grip, Toronto, page 3:

     Who'll buy my caller herrin'? / Cod, turbot, ling, delicious herrin', / Buy my caller herrin', / They're every one Kanucks!

   1. (aviation, military, historical) The Avro Canada CF-100 fighter-interceptor aircraft, in use between 1952 and 1981.
   2. (ice hockey) A member of the Vancouver Canucks professional ice hockey team belonging to the National Hockey League.
   3. (skiing) Chiefly as Crazy Canuck: a member of the Canadian alpine ski team.
   4. (US, obsolete) A Canadian horse or pony.
      • 1860, Josiah Gilbert Holland, Miss Gilbert's Career: An American Story, page 25:

        I'll sit here and blow till he comes round with his old go-cart, and then I'll hang on to the tail of it, and try legs with that little Kanuck of his.

Usage notes

Regarding sense 1 (“Canadian person”), in Canada the term is not derogatory, and is considered to apply to all Canadians. When used by non-Canadians, especially in the United States, the term is often considered derogatory, particularly when applied to French Canadians in New England.

Alternative forms

• canuck
• Canack, Cannack, Canuc, canuc, Canuk, Conuck, Cunnuck, Kanuck, Kanuk, K'nuck (all obsolete)

Derived terms

• Canuckian
• Canuckiana
• Canuckistan
• Jack Canuck
• Janey Canuck
• Johnny Canuck
• Soviet Canuckistan

 

Translations

Canadian person — see also Canadian

• Finnish: kanukki (fi)
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: canadez m
• Russian: кана́дец (ru) m (kanádec), кана́к (ru) m (kanák)
• Swedish: kanadick (sv) c

French Canadian person — see French Canadian

thing from Canada

• Finnish: kanukki (fi)
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

Avro Canada CF-100 fighter-interceptor aircraft

• Finnish: Canuck (fi)
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

member of the Vancouver Canucks professional ice hockey team

• Finnish: Canucksin pelaaja
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

member of the Canadian alpine ski team

• Finnish: Kanadan alppihiihtojoukkueen jäsen
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

Proper noun

Canuck

1. The French-Canadian dialect; also (historical, rare) synonym of Canadian French (“the French language as spoken by Francophones in Canada”).
   • 1904, Holman Francis Day, “Song of the Men o' the Ax: Verse Stories of the Plain Folk Who Are Keeping Bright the Old Home Fires Up in Maine”, in Kin o' Ktaadn, page 145:

     On the deacon-seat in the leapin' heat / With the corn-cobs drawin' cool and sweet, / And timin' the fiddle with tunkin' feet, / A hundred men and a chorus. / “Roule, roulant, ma boule roulant,” / all Canuck but a good song; / Lift it up then, good and strong, / for a cozy night's before us.

2. (slang) Synonym of Canadian English (“the variety of the English language used in Canada”)

Translations

French-Canadian dialect

• Finnish: kanadanranska
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

synonym of Canadian French — see Canadian French

synonym of Canadian English — see Canadian English

Adjective

Canuck (comparative more Canuck, superlative most Canuck)

2. (originally informal, sometimes derogatory) Of, belonging to, or relating to Canada, its culture, or people; Canadian.

   Synonyms: Canajan, Canajun, (slang, derogatory or humorous) Canuckistani, (slang, derogatory or humorous) Canuckistanian

   Antonym: non-Canadian

   • 1887 March 5, Grip, Toronto, pages 1–2:

     Well, what do you think of the Canuck elections?

3. (ice hockey) Of or relating to the Vancouver Canucks professional ice hockey team belonging to the National Hockey League.

Usage notes

Regarding sense 1 (“of, belonging to, or relating to Canada, its culture, or people”), see the usage note in the noun section above.

Translations

of, belonging to, or relating to Canada, its culture, or people — see Canadian

of or relating to the Vancouver Canucks professional ice hockey team

• Finnish: Canucks-joukkueen
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• Canuck on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Jacob Adler, Mitford M. Mathews (1975 spring–summer) “The Etymology of Canuck”, in John Algeo, editor, American Speech: A Quarterly of Linguistic Usage, volume 50, numbers 1–2, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press for the American Dialect Society, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, pages 158–160.
• James Sledd (1978 autumn) “What are We Going to Do about It Now that We’re Number One?”, in John Algeo, editor, American Speech: A Quarterly of Linguistic Usage, volume 53, number 3, Tuscaloosa, Ala.: University of Alabama Press for the American Dialect Society, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, pages 171–198.
• Irving Lewis Allen (1983) “Ethnic Ideology and Folk Etymologies”, in The Language of Ethnic Conflict: Social Organization and Lexical Culture, New York, N.Y.; Guildford, Surrey: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, pages 128–129.
• “Canuck, n.”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “Canuck” in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2004.
• William Safire (2008) “Canucks”, in Safire’s Political Dictionary, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 100.