Other forms: canoes
A canoe is a narrow light boat moved with a paddle. Paddle a canoe, a canoe trip, capsize the canoe.
In British usage canoe often covers the kayak too, but they differ: in a canoe you kneel or sit on a raised seat and use a single-bladed paddle, and in a kayak you sit low with your legs out and use a double-bladed one. Canadian canoe is the open kind. Note the spelling of canoeing, which keeps the e; and paddle your own canoe, meaning to manage without help.
1nouncanoeA narrow light boat moved with a paddle.
“The canoe holds two people and about a week of supplies.”
synonyms: kayak
canoe is a small boat.
Also accepted in games: kayak
Spanish canoa came from the Taíno word for a dugout boat, recorded by Columbus — one of the very first words from the Americas to reach European languages. Hurricane, hammock and tobacco came by the same route.
awd-pro
*kanawa
tnq
*kanowa — dugout canoe
Spanish
canoa
English, today
canoe
Built from
Adopted in 16th century from Spanish canoa, from tnq kanowa (“dugout canoe”) (compare arw kanoa (“canoe”), guc anuwa, anua (“boat, canoe”)), from awd-pro kanawa.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA