cant

cant · noun, verb¹

1. Latin · derived fromcantō
2. English todaycant

From Latin cantō, probably via Old Northern French canter (“sing, tell”). Doublet of chant.

cant · noun, verb²

1. Middle Dutch · derived fromcant“point, side, edge”
2. Middle English · inherited fromcant“edge, brink”
3. English todaycant

From Middle English cant (“edge, brink”), from Middle Dutch cant (“point, side, edge”) (Modern Dutch kant (“side, edge”)), ultimately of Celtic or Latin origin. Related to Medieval Latin cantus (“corner, side”), from Latin canthus.

cant · verb, noun³

Unknown, but compare Provençal cantel (“corner, piece”) or Old Northern French cantel (“piece broken off”). The verb is attested from the 15th century, and the noun from the 16th. See cantle, from which cant is possibly back-formed as if it contained the suffix -le.

cant · adjective⁴

1. Medieval Latin · derived fromcanthus
2. Middle Low German · derived from*kant
3. Middle English · inherited fromcant
4. English todaycant

From Middle English cant, kaunt, presumably from Middle Low German *kant, perhaps a slang word related to kant (“edge, rim”), from Medieval Latin canthus. Attested from the 13th or 14th century.

Cant · proper noun⁵

As a German surname, variant of Kant.

Words from the same roots