Canucks

How to spell canucks

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce canucks

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does canucks mean?

1. nounAn informal, now friendly term for Canadians, often used by Canadians themselves.

Canucks in a sentence

• The visiting canucks filled the hostel with talk of home.

• Proud canucks waved their flags at the international parade.

Where does canucks come from?

Language of origin: Unknown

Canuck is an informal name for a Canadian, and its exact origin is genuinely uncertain, so scholars hedge. It is first recorded in the 1830s in North America, where it was applied at first to French Canadians and later to Canadians of any background. One widely repeated suggestion links it to the Hawaiian word kanaka, meaning simply 'person' or 'man', which sailors and traders carried around the Pacific coast, while another ties it loosely to the first syllable of 'Canada' itself. Through the twentieth century it shed any insulting edge and became a cheerful self-description, even appearing as the wartime cartoon hero 'Johnny Canuck'. The plural canucks is the everyday form, and it also names the Vancouver Canucks ice hockey team, which is why the spelling trap (one n, ck ending) shows up so often.

How the word is built

• Canuck (informal name for a Canadian)
• -s (plural)