canton

canton · noun, verb¹

1. Old French · derived fromcanton“corner”
2. Middle French · borrowed fromcanton
3. English todaycanton

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

Canton · proper noun²

1. Mandarin · derived from廣東 /广东
2. Portuguese · borrowed fromCantão
3. English todayCanton

From Portuguese Cantão, from Mandarin 廣東 /广东 (Guǎngdōng). Doublet of Guangdong. Compare Spanish Cantón, French Canton, Italian Canton, Russian Кантон (Kanton). Unrelated to English canton.

Canton · proper noun³

The town in Oklahoma was named for a nearby cantonment.

Canton · proper noun⁴

From Canna + -ton, literally “St. Canna's town”.

Canton · proper noun⁵

The surname is of French or Galician origin.

Words from the same roots