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in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
A canal.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French canal , from Old French canal , from Latin canālis ( “ channel; canal ” ) , from canālis ( “ canal ” ) , from canna ( “ reed, cane ” ) , from Ancient Greek κάννα ( kánna , “ reed ” ) , from Akkadian 𒄀 ( qanû , “ reed ” ) , from Sumerian 𒄀𒈾 ( gi.na ) . Doublet of channel .
Pronunciation
Noun
canal (plural canals )
An artificial waterway or artificially improved river used for travel, shipping, or irrigation.
( anatomy ) A tubular channel within the body.
( astronomy ) One of the faint, hazy markings resembling straight lines on early telescopic images of the surface of Mars; see Martian canals
Usage notes
Occasionally applied to similar natural waterways, such as Hood Canal .
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations
artificial waterway
Albanian: kanal (sq) m
Amharic: ቦይ ( boy )
Arabic: قَنَاة f ( qanāh )
Armenian: ջրանցք (hy) ( ǰrancʻkʻ )
Assamese: খাল ( khal ) , নলা ( nola )
Asturian: canal f
Azerbaijani:
Abjad: آرخ ( arkh )
Roman: arx (az) , kanal (az)
Basque: ubide
Belarusian: кана́л m ( kanál )
Bengali: খাল (bn) ( khal )
Breton: kanol (br)
Bulgarian: кана́л (bg) m ( kanál )
Burmese: မြောင်း (my) ( mraung: ) , တူးမြောင်း (my) ( tu:mraung: )
Catalan: canal (ca) m
Chagatai: اريق ( ariq ) , آريغ ( arigh )
Chinese:
Cantonese: 運河 / 运河 ( wan6 ho4 )
Hokkien: 運河 / 运河 (zh-min-nan) ( ūn-hô )
Mandarin: 運河 / 运河 (zh) ( yùnhé )
Coptic:
Akhmimic: ⲓⲟⲟⲣⲉ m ( ioore )
Bohairic: ⲓⲟⲣ m ( ior )
Fayyumic: ⲓⲁⲁⲗ m ( iaal )
Oxyrhynchite: ⲓⲁⲣ m ( iar )
Sahidic: ⲉⲓⲟⲟⲣ m ( eioor )
Cornish: kanel f
Czech: kanál (cs) m , průplav (cs) m
Danish: kanal (da) c
Dutch: kanaal (nl) n , vaart (nl) f , gracht (nl) f (in a city, more commonly used in Holland)
Esperanto: kanalo
Estonian: kanal (et)
Finnish: kanava (fi)
French: canal (fr) m
Galician: canal m , canle (gl) f
Georgian: არხი (ka) ( arxi )
German: Kanal (de) m
Greek: κανάλι (el) n ( kanáli )
Ancient: ὀχετός m ( okhetós ) , διῶρυξ f ( diôrux )
Hebrew: תְּעָלָה (he) f ( te'ala ) , יְאוֹר (he) f ( ye'ór )
Hindi: नहर (hi) f ( nahar ) , नाला (hi) m ( nālā )
Hungarian: csatorna (hu)
Icelandic: skurður (is) m , síki n
Indonesian: kanal (id) , terusan (id)
Ingrian: kanava
Irish: canáil f
Italian: canale (it) m
Japanese: 運河 (ja) ( うんが, unga ) , 水路 (ja) ( すいろ, suiro )
Kazakh: канал ( kanal )
Khmer: ប្រឡាយ (km) ( prɑlaay ) , ព្រែកជីក (km) ( prɛɛkciik )
Korean: 운하 (ko) ( unha )
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: کەناڵ ( kenall ) , جۆگە ( coge )
Northern Kurdish: co (ku) m , cihok (ku) m , cobar (ku) m
Kyrgyz: канал (ky) ( kanal )
Lao: ຄອງ (lo) ( khǭng ) , ຕະຄອງ ( ta khǭng ) , ລຳຄອງ ( lam khǭng )
Latin: fossa f
Latvian: kanāls (lv) m
Lithuanian: kanalas (lt) m
Low German:
Dutch Low Saxon: daip n ( Gronings ) , knoal n ( Gronings and Sallands ) , wetering f ( Sallands )
Macedonian: канал m ( kanal )
Malay: terusan (ms)
Maltese: kanal m
Maori: wai tawaka
Mongolian: суваг (mn) ( suvag )
Norman: canal m ( Jersey )
Norwegian:
Bokmål: kanal (no) m
Nynorsk: kanal m
Oromo: bo'oo
Ottoman Turkish: ارغ ( argh ) , آرق ( arq ) , جدول ( cedvel )
Pennsylvania German: Kanaal
Persian: کانال (fa) ( kânâl ) , آبراه (fa) ( âb-râh ) , مادی (fa) ( mâdi ) ( Isfahani dialect )
Polish: kanał (pl) m
Portuguese: canal (pt) m
Punjabi: ਨਹਿਰ f ( nahir )
Romanian: canal (ro) n
Russian: кана́л (ru) m ( kanál )
Sanskrit: खल्ल (sa) m ( khalla ) , कुल्या (sa) f ( kulyā )
Scottish Gaelic: canàl m , sruth-chlais f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: канал m
Roman: kanal (sh) m
Slovak: kanál m , prieplav
Slovene: kanal m , prekop m
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: kanal m
Spanish: canal (es) m or f , caz (es) m , cauz m
Swahili: mfereji (sw)
Swedish: kanal (sv) c
Tajik: канал (tg) ( kanal )
Tamil: கால்வாய் (ta) ( kālvāy )
Telugu: కాలువ (te) ( kāluva )
Thai: คลอง (th) ( klɔɔng ) , ลำน้ำ ( lamnáam )
Tocharian B: newiya
Turkish: ark (tr) , kanal (tr)
Turkmen: kanal
Ukrainian: кана́л (uk) m ( kanál )
Urdu: نہر (ur) f ( nahar )
Uyghur: قانال ( qanal )
Uzbek: kanal (uz)
Venetan: val (vec) f , vałe f
Vietnamese: kênh (vi) , kênh đào
Welsh: camlas
Yiddish: קאַנאַל m ( kanal ) , דורכגאָס m ( durkhgos )
a tubular channel within the body
Translations to be checked
Verb
canal (third-person singular simple present canals , present participle canaling or canalling , simple past and past participle canaled or canalled )
To dig an artificial waterway in or to (a place), especially for drainage
1968 , Louisiana State University, Proceedings , page 165 :In the mangrove-type salt marsh, the entire marsh must be canaled or impounded.
To travel along a canal by boat
1905 , William Yoast Morgan, A Journey of a Jayhawker , page 211 :Near Rotterdam we canalled by Delfthaven.
Anagrams
Asturian
Etymology
From Latin canālis .
Noun
canal f (plural canales )
canal ( artificial waterway )
Catalan
Etymology
Inherited from Latin canālis ( “ channel; canal ” ) .
Pronunciation
Noun
canal m (plural canals )
canal ( artificial passage for water )
channel
( anatomy ) channel , tract
canal digestiu ― digestive tract
Noun
canal f (plural canals )
roof gutter
Synonyms: canaló , ràfec
( architecture ) groove , fluting ( of a column, etc. )
Synonyms: estria , solc
crease , fold
( bookbinding ) fore edge
carcass
Derived terms
Further reading
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin canālis . Doublet of chenal .
Pronunciation
Noun
canal m (plural canaux )
canal
channel ( broadcasting: specific radio frequency or band of frequencies )
Derived terms
Descendants
See also
Further reading
Anagrams
Galician
Etymology 1
From Old Galician-Portuguese canal (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria ): cana ( “ cane, reed ” ) + -al . Cognate with Spanish cañal .
Pronunciation
Noun
canal m (plural canais )
( dated ) fish -weir ; place or installation for fishing, on a river
Synonyms: caneiro , pesqueira
1375 , A. López Ferreiro, editor, Galicia Histórica. Colección diplomática , Santiago: Tipografía Galaica, page 385 :V casares en Cesar os quaes fforon de Mayor Aras moller de Martin Sanchez Xarpa com huum paaço et con huum canal enno Tamare. 5 farmhouses in Cesar, which belonged to Maior Aras, wife of Martín Sánchez Xarpa, with a manor and a fishery on the river Tambre
Etymology 2
Learned borrowing from Latin canalis . Doublet of canle and cal .
Pronunciation
Noun
canal m (plural canais )
canal
channel
References
Ernesto Xosé González Seoane , María Álvarez de la Granja , Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006 –2022 ) “canal ”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006 –2018 ) “canal ”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006 –2018 ) “canar ”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández , editor (2006 –2013 ), “canal ”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language ] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández , Ernesto Xosé González Seoane , María Álvarez de la Granja , editors (2003 –2018 ), “canal ”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Rosario Álvarez Blanco , editor (2014 –2024 ), “canal ”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega , →ISSN
Norman
Etymology
From Old French canal , from Latin canālis ( “ channel; canal ” ) .
Noun
canal m (plural canaux )
( Jersey ) canal
Portuguese
canal
Etymology
From Old Galician-Portuguese canal , from Latin canālis ( “ canal ” ) , from canna ( “ reed, cane ” ) , from Ancient Greek κάννα ( kánna , “ reed ” ) , from Akkadian 𒄀 ( qanû , “ reed ” ) , from Sumerian 𒄀𒈾 ( gi.na ) . This form may possibly be an early borrowing or semi-learned term; compare the fully inherited doublet cale , and related calha .
Pronunciation
Rhymes: ( Portugal ) -al , ( Brazil ) -aw
Hyphenation: ca‧nal
Noun
canal m (plural canais )
ditch
Synonyms: canaleta , vala , valeta
canal ( artificial waterway )
( radio ) channel ( broadcasting: specific radio frequency or band of frequencies )
( television ) television channel
Derived terms
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from French canal , Latin canālis .
Pronunciation
Noun
canal n (plural canale or canaluri )
( plural canaluri ) canal
channel
Declension
Further reading
Spanish
Etymology
Inherited from Old Spanish canal , from Latin canālis ( “ channel; canal ” ) .
Pronunciation
IPA (key ) : /kaˈnal/
Rhymes: -al
Syllabification: ca‧nal
Noun
canal m (plural canales )
canal , flume , waterway ( artificial )
channel ( wide strait )
( communication ) channel
( chemistry ) channel
cleavage
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Descendants
Further reading
Venetan
Etymology
From Latin canālis .
Noun
canal m (plural canałi )
canal
channel ( all senses )