canteen

English

Drinking from a canteen or water flask of late 20th century or early 21st century design. Note the attached stopper.

Etymology

From French cantine, from Italian cantina, from Vulgar Latin canthus (“corner”), from Gaulish *cantos, denoting the location for liquor storage, from Proto-Celtic *cantos (“corner”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂ndʰ. Doublet of cantina.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /kænˈtiːn/
• Rhymes: -iːn

Noun

canteen (plural canteens)

1. A small cafeteria or snack bar, especially one in a military establishment, school, or place of work.
2. A temporary or mobile café used in an emergency or on a film location etc.
3. A box with compartments for storing eating utensils, silverware etc.
4. A military mess kit.
6. A water bottle used by a soldier or camper.

Derived terms

• canteen culture

Translations

small cafeteria or snack bar

• Albanian: mensë (sq) f
• Arabic: مَقْصَف‎ (ar) m (maqṣaf)
• Armenian: ճաշարան (hy) (čašaran)
• Azerbaijani: yeməkxana (az), bufet (az), aşxana
• Bashkir: ашхана (ašxana)
• Basque: kantina (eu), jantegi (eu)
• Belarusian: стало́вая f (stalóvaja), яда́льня f (jadálʹnja), стало́ўка f (stalóŭka), стало́ўня f (stalóŭnja)
• Bulgarian: ла́вка f (lávka), столо́ва (bg) f (stolóva), трапеза́рия f (trapezárija)
• Burmese: စစ်သုံးအိုးခွက် (cacsum:ui:hkwak)
• Central Dusun: kantin
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 餐廳, 餐厅 (caan¹ teng¹), 飯堂, 饭堂 (faan⁶ tong⁴)

  Dungan: гуанзы (guanzɨ), цантин (cantin)

  Mandarin: 食堂 (zh) (shítáng), 餐廳 (zh), 餐厅 (zh) (cāntīng), 館子 (zh), 馆子 (zh) (guǎnzi)

• Czech: jídelna (cs) f, kantýna (cs) f
• Danish: kantine
• Dutch: kantine (nl)
• Estonian: söökla
• Finnish: ruokala (fi), kanttiini (fi), henkilöstöruokala
• French: cantine (fr) f
• Georgian: სასადილო (sasadilo)
• German: Kantine (de) f, Mensa (de) f (for students)
• Greek: καντίνα (el) f (kantína), τραπεζαρία (el) f (trapezaría)
• Hebrew: קַנטִינָה‎ (he) (kantina)
• Hindi: कैंटीन (hi) m (kaiṇṭīn)
• Hungarian: kantin (hu), menza (hu)
• Icelandic: mötuneyti (is) n, matsalur (is) m
• Indonesian: kantin (id)
• Irish: ceaintín m
• Italian: mensa (it) f
• Japanese: 食堂 (ja) (しょくどう, shokudō), カフェテリア (kafeteria)
• Kazakh: асхана (asxana)
• Khmer: អាហារដ្ឋាន (ʼaahaa thaan)
• Korean: 구내식당 (gunaesikdang), 식당 (ko) (sikdang), 카페테리아 (kapeteria)
• Kyrgyz: ашкана (ky) (aşkana), столовая (ky) (stolovaya)
• Lao: ຮ້ານອາຫານ (lo) (hān ʼā hān)

• Latin: (military) caupona castrensis f
• Latvian: ēdnīca f
• Lithuanian: valgykla f
• Macedonian: кантина f (kantina), менза f (menza)
• Malay: kantin
• Maori: kāmuri, kāmuri
• Mongolian: гуанз (mn) (guanz)
• Norwegian: kantine m or f
• Occitan: cantina f
• Ottoman Turkish: آشخانه‎ (aşhâne)
• Pashto: کانتين‎ (ps) m (kāntín)
• Persian: کافه‌تریا‎ (kâfe-teriyâ), آشخانه‎‎ (âšxâne) (dated)
• Polish: stołówka (pl) f
• Portuguese: cantina (pt) f
• Romanian: cantină (ro) f
• Russian: столо́вая (ru) f (stolóvaja), заку́сочная (ru) f (zakúsočnaja), буфе́т (ru) m (bufét), кафете́рий (ru) m (kafetɛ́rij), столо́вка (ru) f (stolóvka) (colloquial)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: канти́на f, ме̏нза f

  Roman: kantína (sh) f, mȅnza (sh) f

• Slovak: kantína f, jedáleň f
• Slovene: menza (sl) f
• Spanish: cantina (es) f
• Swedish: matsal (sv), kantin (sv)
• Tajik: ошхона (tg) (ošxona)
• Tatar: ашханә (tt) (aşxanä)
• Thai: โรงอาหาร (roong-aa-hǎan)
• Turkish: kantin (tr), aşhane (tr)
• Turkmen: mytara, aşhana (tk)
• Ukrainian: їда́льня (uk) f (jidálʹnja)
• Uyghur: ئاشخانا‎ (ashxana)
• Uzbek: oshxona (uz), ovqatxona (uz), yemakxona (uz)
• Vietnamese: căng tin, nhà ăn (vi)
• Welsh: caban bwyd m

temporary or mobile cafe

• Greek: καντίνα (el) f (kantína)

• Swedish: kantin (sv) c, markententeri n

box with compartments

• Finnish: ruokailuvälinelaatikko, aterinlaatikko
• German: Besteckkasten m
• Greek: κασετίνα (el) f (kasetína)

• Icelandic: hnífaparakassi m
• Portuguese: faqueiro m

military mess kit

• Basque: mahai-tresnak
• Finnish: ruokailuvälinesarja, pakki (fi)

• Icelandic: mataráhöld hermanna n pl
• Welsh: blwch (cy) m

water bottle

• Catalan: cantimplora (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 水壺 (zh), 水壶 (zh) (shuǐhú)

• Dutch: veldfles (nl)
• Estonian: pläsku, lähker (historical)
• Finnish: kenttäpullo (fi)
• French: gourde (fr) f, bidon (fr) m
• German: Feldflasche (de) f
• Greek: παγούρι (el) n (pagoúri)
• Hungarian: kulacs (hu)
• Icelandic: vatnsbrúsi m
• Italian: borraccia (it) f
• Japanese: 水筒 (すいとう, suitō)

• Khmer: ប៊ីដុង (km) (biidong)
• Lao: ກະຕິກ (lo) (ka tik)
• Latin: laguncula f
• Portuguese: cantil (pt) m
• Russian: фля́га (ru) f (fljága), фля́жка (ru) f (fljážka), бидо́н (ru) m (bidón)
• Serbo-Croatian: čutura (sh) f
• Spanish: cantimplora (es)
• Swedish: fältflaska (sv) c
• Thai: กระติก (grà-dtìk)
• Turkish: matara (tr)
• Volapük: (soldier's) militaflad (vo)
• Welsh: botel ddŵr f, fflasg ddŵr f

Further reading

• canteen in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• canteen in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911.
• canteen at OneLook Dictionary Search

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Spanish

Verb

canteen

1. Second-person plural (ustedes) present subjunctive form of cantear.
2. Third-person plural (ellos, ellas, also used with ustedes^?) present subjunctive form of cantear.
3. Second-person plural (ustedes) imperative form of cantear.