Etymology
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cannon (n.)

c. 1400, "artillery piece, mounted gun for throwing projectiles by force of gunpowder," from Anglo-French canon (mid-14c.), Old French canon (14c.), from Italian cannone "large tube, barrel," augmentative of Latin canna "reed, tube" (see cane (n.)). The double -n- spelling to differentiate it from canon is from c. 1800. Cannon fodder (1847) translates German kanonenfutter (compare Shakespeare's food for powder in "I Hen. IV").

Entries linking to cannon

cane (n.)

late 14c., "long slender woody stem," from Old French cane "reed, cane, spear" (13c., Modern French canne), from Latin canna "reed, cane," from Greek kanna, perhaps from Babylonian-Assyrian qanu "tube, reed" (compare Hebrew qaneh, Arabic qanah "reed"), which may come from Sumerian-Akkadian gin "reed." The sense of "length of cane used as a walking stick" is from 1580s.

cannonade (n.)

"a continued discharge of artillery," 1650s, from cannon + -ade. As a verb, "attack with artillery," from 1660s. Compare French canonnade (16c.), Italian cannonata. Related: Cannonaded; cannonading.

updated on September 24, 2019

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Dictionary entries near cannon

cannibalistic

cannibalization

cannibalize

cannister

cannoli

cannon

cannonade

cannon-ball

cannon-shot

cannot

cannula

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