Canuck

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English

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WOTD – 1 July 2024

Etymology

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Origin uncertain, often hypothesized to derive from the name or speech of an early Canadian minority, later broadened to denote all Canadians:[1]

  • Since 1975, many scholars have come to think the name is from Hawaiian kanaka (“man”),[2][3][4] a self-appellation of indentured colonial canoemen and Hawaiian sailors working off the Pacific Northwest, Arctic, and New England coasts, from French canaque (“indigenous Melanesian inhabitant of New Caledonia, Kanak”); or, more likely, American whalers’ pidgin,[5] then re-interpreted as Can(adian) + a suffix.[6] (More below on that [specific] putative suffix.) Compare English Kanak and German Kanake.
  • Some dictionaries suggest it is derived from the first syllable of Canada,[3][7] or its etymon Laurentian kanata (“village”), or a related word kanuchsa meaning “villager” in either Laurentian or another Iroquoian language;[8] with the second syllable connected to Inuktitut inuk (“man; person”),[9] from Chinook (“Aboriginal people of the U.S. Pacific Northwest”),[10] or another First-Nation language ending like -oc, -uc, or -uq.
  • Fanciful and unlikely suggestions include German genug von Canada (literally “enough of Canada”) (allegedly uttered by German mercenaries during the American War of Independence), French quelle canule (“what a bore”) (allegedly uttered by the French during a siege of Quebec), or the surname Connaught /ˈkɑ.nəxt/ (supposedly a French-Canadian nickname for the Irish).[5]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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Canuck (plural Canucks)

  2. (Canada, US, informal, sometimes derogatory) A Canadian person; specifically (archaic), a French Canadian person; a pea-souper; also (obsolete) a Canadian person of other non-English descent. [from early 19th c.]
    Synonyms: Canadian, Canajan, Canajun, Johnny Canuck; hoser (derogatory)
    • [1835, [Henry Cook Todd], Notes upon Canada and the United States of America: In the Year MDCCCXXXV […], Toronto, Ont.: […] W[illiam] J[oseph] Coates, […], →OCLC, paragraph 263, page 92:
      Canadians are somewhat jealous of the Americans; that they are secretly manœuvering, not exactly with the inoffensive good humor of a much respected yeoman of England, […] but rather after the inordinate example of Ahab of old, so pithily recorded by the sacred historian. Jonathan distinguishes a Dutch or French Canadian, by the term Kanuk.
      “Jonathan” is a 19th-century nickname for a New Englander.]
    • 1849, James E[dward] Alexander, chapter XV, in L’Acadie; or, Seven Years’ Explorations in British America. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 272–273:
      We saw a few partridges: we also met a lusty fellow in a forest road with a keg of whisky slung round him, who called to us 'Come boys and have some grog, I'm what you call a canuck:' a (Canadian).
      Referring to an English-speaking Canadian.
    • 1889, John G[eorge] Donkin, chapter XIII, in Trooper and Redskin in the Far North-West: Recollections of Life in the North-West Mounted Police, Canada, 1884–1888, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington […], →OCLC, page 148:
      It is a pity these Canadian militiamen spoilt the good work they had done by never-failing bluster. But for pure and unadulterated brag I will back the lower-class Canuck against the world. The Yankee is a very sucking dove compared to his northern neighbour.
    • 1895 August 26, “Sports of field and track: Toronto 14, Rochester 11—first game”, in Democrat and Chronicle, volume 63, number 238, Rochester, N.Y.: Rochester Printing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 11, column 1:
      [T]he Canucks were ready with bats, hands, feet and heads, to outplay the locals at all points. They did it to a nicety. It is wonderful to contemplate the quality of ball speiled by the Canucks when their lungs are filled with Rochester air.
      Referring to members of a Toronto baseball team.
    • 1898, Rowland E[vans] Robinson, “Forebodings of Storm”, in A Hero of Ticonderoga, Burlington, Vt.: Hobart J[oseph] Shanley & Co., →OCLC, page 140:
      He's got a Canuck a-workin' for him, and I'd livser trust a wolf 'n one o' them pea-soupers.
      Referring to a French Canadian.
    • 1907 May, Howard Angus Kennedy, “The Dry Patch”, in New Canada and the New Canadians, 2nd edition, London: Horace Marshall & Son, published October 1907, →OCLC, page 192:
      The new-comers were a couple of farmers from Minnesota, genuine Americans from birth; wise men, with a keg of good water in their waggon. "And don't you want to be Americans any longer?" I asked. "No," said they most emphatically, "we're Canucks now."
    • 1940 August 9, “Troops pack it away”, in Toronto Daily Star, Toronto, Ont.: The Toronto Star Limited, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18, column 7:
      One person who realizes that the Canadian troops in England have healthy appetites is Corp. J. R. Johnstone, chief butcher of a unit. He and his 16 assistants drag from huge refrigerators eight tons of meat per day for the hungry Canucks; and every other day when rationing is less severe the butchers carve up 16 tons of lamb, beef and pork.
    • 1964 March 19, Larry Wood, “Dagg stays unbeaten: Scotch Cup winner decided tonight”, in Richard L[ouis] Sanburn, editor, The Calgary Herald, Calgary, Alta.: The Southam Company, →ISSN, page 18, column 5:
      The Scottish skip [Alex F. Torrance] missed a wide open takeout in the fifth leaving the Canucks another single.
      Referring to members of the Canadian curling team.
    • 2016 June 12, Richard Stursberg, “The Secret Canadian Life of Jack Kerouac: Reading Kerouac’s Lost French Writings Reveals the Travails of a Canuck in America”, in Maclean’s‎[2], Toronto, Ont.: Maclean-Hunter Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-06-04:
      [Jack] Kerouac's writings reveal that, although celebrated as an iconic American, he thought of himself as first and foremost Canadian. In La Vie est d'Hommage, he writes, "I am French Canadian. When I am angry, I often swear in French; when I dream, I often dream in French." He went on to say that "all my knowledge comes from my being French Canadian.” But as a Canuck in the United States, he felt patronized. He needed to hide his true self. Even with his friends in New York, with Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs, he was "a completely different man. We have to live in English, it's impossible to live in French. This is the secret thought of the Canuck in America."
      The quotations were translated from French by Stursberg.
    1. (ice hockey) A member of the Vancouver Canucks professional ice hockey team belonging to the National Hockey League.
    2. (skiing) Chiefly as Crazy Canuck: a member of the Canadian alpine ski team.
  3. (rare) A thing from Canada.
    1. (aviation, military, historical) The Avro Canada CF-100 fighter-interceptor aircraft, in use between 1952 and 1981.
    2. (US, obsolete) A Canadian horse or pony.
      • 1860, J[osiah] G[ilbert] Holland, “Miss Gilbert Visits the Sky, and Little Venus Takes up Her Permanent Residence there”, in Miss Gilbert’s Career: An American Story, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner, […]; London: Sampson Low, Son & Co., →OCLC, page 29:
        I'll sit here and blow till he comes round with his old go-cart, and then I'll hang on to the tail of it, and try legs with that little Kanuck of his.
      • 1892 January 26, “The ‘Canuck’ horse”, in The Boston Weekly Globe, volume XX, number 4, Boston, Mass.: Globe Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 6, column 4:
        Forty years ago the States south of the French part of Canada procured a large number of horses from that country. These were popularly called "Canucks," and were distinguished from the horses of the country by strongly marked characteristics. […] The Canuck was thoroughly a Norman horse in all respects except size, though having more strength in proportion to size and more spirit, […] Canucks in general had excessive knee action, and were natural trotters or pacers, were not built for galloping, and not inclined to take that gait; […]

Usage notes

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Regarding sense 1 (“Canadian person”), in Canada the term is not derogatory, and is considered to apply to all Canadians. When used by non-Canadians, especially in the United States, the term is often considered derogatory, particularly when applied to French Canadians in New England.

Alternative forms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Proper noun

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Canuck

  1. (historical, rare) Synonym of Canadian French (“the French language as spoken by Francophones in Canada”).
    • 1866, Andrew Learmont Spedon, “Tale III. Adventures with Religious Impostors.”, in Canadian Summer Evening Tales, Montreal, Que.: […] John Lovell, […], →OCLC, pages 71–72:
      "Oh, monsieur, monsieur, ayez pitie de moi; je suis honnète et vous paierai dix fois autant." / "You blasted scoundrel that you are, I want none of your impertinence and Canuck lingo; go hunt up your dirty trash of hungry humbugs, that you shouldered upon me last evening. […]"
    • 1904, Holman F[rancis] Day, “Kingdom o’ Spruce: Song of the Men o’ the Ax”, in Kin o’ Ktaadn: Verse Stories of the Plain Folk who are Keeping Bright the Old Home Fires up in Maine, Boston, Mass.: Small, Maynard & Company, →OCLC, page 145:
      On the deacon-seat in the leapin' heat / With the corn-cobs drawin' cool and sweet, / And timin' the fiddle with tunkin' feet, / A hundred men and a chorus. / "Roule, roulant, ma boule roulant," / It 's all Canuck but a good old song; / Lift it up then, good and strong, / For a cozy night 's before us.
    • 1956, Herbert Gold, “Round and round, the trick of want”, in The Man who was Not with It (An Avon Library Book), New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, published March 1969, →OCLC, page 179:
      So Mama will say, Bon jour, Grack, tu viens enfin? That's Canuck for you ain't been a son to your ma. Can't you see by my skin and bones—I'm sick, I got a habit—I ain't my mama's anymore?
  2. (slang) Synonym of Canadian English (“the variety of the English language used in Canada”)
    • 1901 July 25, Irving Bacheller, chapter XXII, in D’ri and I: A Tale of Daring Deeds in the Second War with the British. […], Boston, Mass.: Lothrop Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 302:
      "It is one ver' gran' night," I said in my dialect of the rude Canuck; for I did not wish him, or any one, to know me.

Translations

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Adjective

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Canuck (comparative more Canuck, superlative most Canuck)

  2. (originally informal, sometimes derogatory) Of, belonging to, or relating to Canada, its culture, or people; Canadian.
    Synonyms: Canajan, Canajun, (slang, derogatory or humorous) Canuckistani, (slang, derogatory or humorous) Canuckistanian
    Antonym: non-Canadian
    • 1866, Andrew Learmont Spedon, “Tale III. Adventures with Religious Impostors.”, in Canadian Summer Evening Tales, Montreal, Que.: […] John Lovell, […], →OCLC, page 71:
      "I want none of your d⁠—NoBreak;— peasoup excuses, or promises," and, calling upon the hostler, a fat-blooded Englishman, he ordered him to stable the horse immediately, and keep a sharp "look out" to that Canuck Frenchman.
    • 1879 June 1, “Various topics”, in The Detroit Free Press, volume 44, number 242, Detroit, Mich.: The Detroit Free Press Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4, column 3:
      It is well known that Canada, by the adoption of a protective tariff, shut out many of our American articles from the Canuck markets.
    • 1887 March 5, “A Premium on It”, in J[ohn] W[ilson] Bengough, editor, Grip. An Independent Journal of Humor and Caricature., volume XXVIII, number 10, Toronto, Ont.: [Grip Print. & Pub. Co.], →ISSN, →OCLC, column 2:
      Well, what do you think of the Canuck elections?
    • 1963 February 2, The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Ont.: The Globe and Mail Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6:
      Any trend by the big brother to the south to tell Canadians how to run their affairs can raise Canuck dander very quickly.
  3. (ice hockey) Of or relating to the Vancouver Canucks professional ice hockey team belonging to the National Hockey League.

Usage notes

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Regarding sense 1 (“of, belonging to, or relating to Canada, its culture, or people”), see the usage note in the noun section above.

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ Irving Lewis Allen (1990) “Flippity Floppity: The Semantic Inversion and Transmigration of Slurs”, in Unkind Words: Ethnic Labeling from Redskin to WASP, New York, N.Y.: Bergin & Garvey, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, part I (Traditional Slurs), pages 59 and 61–62.
  2. ^ Stefan Dollinger, Margery Fee, editors (2017), “Canuck, n. & adj.”, in DCHP-2 Online: A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, 2nd edition, Vancouver, B.C.: University of British Columbia, →OCLC.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 “Canuck”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
  4. ^ “Canuck, n.”, in Collins English Dictionary; from Michael Agnes, editor, Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th edition, Cleveland, Oh.: Wiley, 2010, →ISBN.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Stefan Dollinger (2006 August) “Towards a Fully Revised and Extended Edition of the Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles (DCHP-2): Background, Challenges, Prospects”, in Historical Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguisics‎[1], volume 6, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company for the Department of Humanities, Leiden University, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-17.
  6. ^ “Canuck, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  7. ^ “Canuck, n. and adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “Canuck, n. and adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  8. ^ Bill [William Gordon] Casselman (1995) “Place Names”, in Casselman’s Canadian Words, Toronto, Ont.: Copp Clark, →ISBN, page 89;
  9. ^ W. W. Schuhmacher (1989 summer) “Once More Canuck”, in Ronald R. Butters, editor, American Speech: A Quarterly of Linguistic Usage, volume 64, number 2, Tuscaloosa, Ala.: University of Alabama Press for the American Dialect Society, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, page 149.
  10. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “Canuck”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

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