Meanings
alternative Chanaan · alternative Caanan
- A historic region of the Middle East, roughly equivalent to Palestine/Israel.
Ancient combs were made from wood, bone and ivory, but the latter would have been expensive, imported luxuries. There were no elephants in Canaan at the time.
2022 November 9, Ian Sample, “Oldest known sentence written in first alphabet discovered – on a head-lice comb”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 26 Aug 2024 - biblicalA grandson of Noah.
And Canaan begat Sidon his first born, and Heth, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 10:15-18 - rareA male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.
- The name of multiple places in North America named after the historic region, including:
- A town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States.
- A number of townships in the United States, listed under Canaan Township.
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Biblical Hebrewכְּנַעַן
- Ancient GreekΧαναάν
- Ecclesiastical LatinChanaān
- EnglishCanaan
Taken (at least as early as Wycliffe's Bible, 1382-1395, which has Chanaan) from Ecclesiastical Latin Chanaān, from Ancient Greek Χαναάν (Khanaán), expanded from Χνᾶ (Khnâ), from Biblical Hebrew כְּנַעַן (kanáʕan). The first vowel shifted from /aː/ to /eɪ/ in the Great Vowel Shift; at least as early as Milton (1660s), the word could already be pronounced with two syllables, though at least as late as the 1880s it could also be pronounced with three, /ˈkeɪ.nə.æn/.
More words from Ecclesiastical Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans Kanaän
- Kanaänhistoric region
Ancient Greek Χαναάν
- Χαναάν (Khanaán)historic region
Arabic كَنْعَان
- كَنْعَان (kanʕān)historic region
Basque Kanaan
- Kanaanhistoric region
Bengali কেনান, কেনান
- কেনান (kenan)historic region
- কেনান (kenan)grandson of Noah
Bulgarian Ханаа́н
- Ханаа́н (Hanaán)historic region
Catalan Canaan
- Canaanhistoric region
Chinese Cantonese 迦南, 迦南
- 迦南 (gaa¹ naam⁴)historic region
- 迦南 (gaa¹ naam⁴)grandson of Noah
Chinese Mandarin 迦南, 迦南
- 迦南 (Jiānán)historic region
- 迦南 (Jiānán)grandson of Noah
Czech Kanaán, Kenaan
- Kanaánhistoric region
- Kenaangrandson of Noah
- Kanángrandson of Noah
Danish Kanan
- Kananhistoric region
Dutch Kanaän
- Kanaänhistoric region
Esperanto Kanaano
- Kanaanohistoric region
Estonian Kaanan
- Kaananhistoric region
Finnish Kanaan
- Kanaanhistoric region
French Canaan
- Canaanhistoric region
German Kanaan
- Kanaanhistoric region
Greek Χαναάν
- Χαναάν (Chanaán)historic region
Hebrew כְּנַעַן, כְּנַעַן
- כְּנַעַן (k'ná'an)historic region
- כְּנַעַן (k'ná'an)grandson of Noah
Hindi कनान
- कनान (kanān)historic region
Hungarian Kánaán
- Kánaánhistoric region
Icelandic Kanan
- Kananhistoric region
Italian Canaan
- Canaanhistoric region
Japanese カナアン, カナン
- カナアン (Kana-an)historic region
- カナン (Kanan)historic region
Korean 가나안
- 가나안 (ganaan)historic region
Latin Chanaān
- Chanaānhistoric region
Latvian Kanaāna
- Kanaānahistoric region
Lithuanian Kanaanas
- Kanaanashistoric region
Malay Kanaan, Kanaan
- Kanaanhistoric region
- Kanaangrandson of Noah
Persian کنعان
- کنعان (kan'ân)historic region
Polish Kanaan, Kanaan
- Kanaanhistoric region
- Kanaangrandson of Noah
Portuguese Canaã, Canaã
- Canaãhistoric region
- Canaãgrandson of Noah
Punjabi ਕਨਾਨ
- ਕਨਾਨ (kanān)historic region
Russian Ханаа́н, Ханаан
- Ханаа́н (Xanaán)historic region
- Ханаан (Xanaan)grandson of Noah
Slovak Kanaán
- Kanaánhistoric region
Spanish Canaán
- Canaánhistoric region
Swahili Kanaani
- Kanaanihistoric region
Swedish Kanaan
- Kanaanhistoric region
Tamil கானான்
- கானான் (kāṉāṉ)historic region
Thai คานาอัน
- คานาอัน (kaa-naa-an)historic region
Turkish Kenan
- Kenanhistoric region
Ukrainian Ханаан
- Ханаан (Xanaan)historic region
Urdu کَنْعان
- کَنْعان (kanʻān)historic region
Vietnamese Ca-na-an
- Ca-na-anhistoric region
Yiddish כּנען, כּנען
- כּנען (knaan)historic region
- כּנען (knaan)grandson of Noah
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with Canaan
Cite this entry
Canaan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Canaan
“Canaan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Canaan. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Canaan,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Canaan.
Source: Canaan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.