canton

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See also: cantón, Canton, and Cantón

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology 1

1530s, from Middle French canton, from Old French canton (“corner”); heraldic sense from the 1570s, geographic sense from c. 1600.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkæntn̩/
  • IPA(key): /ˈkæntɒn/ (especially in the flag sense)

Noun

canton (plural cantons)

  2. A division of a political unit.
    • (Can we date this quote by Davies and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      that little canton of land called the "English pale"
    • (Can we date this quote by Bishop Burnet and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      There is another piece of Holbein's, […] in which, in six several cantons, the several parts of our Saviour's passion are represented.
    2. One of the states comprising the Swiss Confederation.
    3. A subdivision of an arrondissement of France.
    4. A division of Luxembourg, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.
  3. A small community or clan.
  4. A subdivision of a flag, the rectangular inset on the upper hoist (i.e., flagpole) side (e.g., the stars of the US national flag are in a canton).
  6. (heraldry) A division of a shield occupying one third of the chief, usually on the dexter side, formed by a perpendicular line from the top meeting a horizontal line from the side.
    • (Can we date this quote by Evelyn and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      The king gave us the arms of England to be borne in a canton in our arms.
Translations

Verb

canton (third-person singular simple present cantons, present participle cantoning, simple past and past participle cantoned)

  1. (transitive) To delineate as a separate district.
  2. (transitive) To divide into cantons.
  3. (transitive) To allot quarters to troops.

Etymology 2

Noun

canton (plural cantons)

  1. (obsolete) A song or canto.
    • (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      Write loyal cantons of contemned love.

Anagrams

French

Etymology

From Middle French canton, from Old French canton (from the 1240s), from Old Occitan canton (“corner; canton”) (recorded before 1218), adopted in Occitan from North Italian (Gallo-Italic, early Lombard) cantone (“edge, corner; canton”), ultimately representing Latin cant- (“rim (of a wheel)”) with the addition of the -ō (accusative -ōnem) suffix forming augmentatives in Romance.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kɑ̃.tɔ̃/
  • Audio (Paris):(file)
  • Audio:(file)

Noun

canton m (plural cantons)

  1. canton (of Switzerland, France or Luxembourg)
  2. (heraldry) canton

Descendants

  • → German: Kanton

Further reading

Venetian

Noun

canton m (plural cantoni)

  1. corner

Derived terms

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