Canal

How to spell canal

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce canal

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does canal mean?

1. nounAn artificial channel of water built for navigation, drainage, or irrigation.
2. nounA tubular passage or duct within the body.

Canal in a sentence

• A narrow boat drifted slowly along the canal.

• The dentist said the infected tooth would need a root canal.

• The new canal links the two rivers and shortens the journey for cargo ships.

• A buildup of wax in the ear canal can dull your hearing.

Where does canal come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin canalis, meaning a pipe, channel, or groove for carrying water. That noun grew out of canna, meaning a reed or hollow tube, the same reed-like image behind the words 'cane' and 'cannon'. English took the term in by way of French during the Middle Ages, and for a long time it could describe almost any pipe or conduit. From the seventeenth century, as engineers cut artificial waterways across the landscape, the modern sense of a man-made channel for boats and irrigation became dominant. The single 'l' and the unstressed first syllable are the spelling traps, since the stress falls firmly on the second syllable, so writers sometimes guess at a doubled letter that was never there.

How the word is built

• canal (from Latin canalis: channel, pipe), from canna (reed, tube)