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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

canoe.

A small long and narrow boat, propelled by one or more people (depending on the size of canoe), using single-bladed paddles. The paddlers face in the direction of travel, in either a seated position, or kneeling on the bottom of the boat. Canoes are open on top, and pointed at both ends.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/kəˈnuː/
  1. A small long and narrow boat, propelled by one or more people (depending on the size of canoe), using single-bladed paddles. The paddlers face in the direction of travel, in either a seated position, or kneeling on the bottom of the boat. Canoes are open on top, and pointed at both ends.

  2. An oversize, usually older, luxury car.

    slang
  3. Any of the deflectors positioned around a roulette wheel, shaped like upside-down boats.

Where this word comes from

Adopted in 16th century from Spanish canoa, from Taíno *kanowa (“dugout canoe”) (compare Lokono kanoa (“canoe”), Wayuu anuwa, anua (“boat, canoe”)), from Proto-Arawak *kanawa.

verb/kəˈnuː/
  1. To ride or paddle a canoe.

  2. To split someone's head with a round.

    US · slang
Where this word comes from

Adopted in 16th century from Spanish canoa, from Taíno *kanowa (“dugout canoe”) (compare Lokono kanoa (“canoe”), Wayuu anuwa, anua (“boat, canoe”)), from Proto-Arawak *kanawa.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.