Meanings
nounCantab (plural Cantabs)
plural Cantabs
- colloquialA graduate of the University of Cambridge.
She is frequently visited by the young Cantabs, upon their arrival in the capital […].
1789, Harris's List of Covent-Garden Ladies, London: H. Ranger, page 911 more example
Sure my invention must be down at zero, / And I grown one of many "Wooden Spoons" / Of verse, (the name with which we Cantabs please / To dub the last of honours in degrees).
1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, III.110 - colloquialA student at or graduate of Harvard University, USA (Cambridge, MA).
adjective
Origin
- LatinCantabrigia“Cambridge”
- EnglishCantab
Clipping of Cantabrigian, from Latin Cantabrigia (“Cambridge”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
Cantab. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cantab
MLA
“Cantab.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cantab. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Cantab,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cantab.
Source: Cantab on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.