canoe
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Small and light boat.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhnooSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kəˈnu
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
nautical
A small long and narrow boat, propelled by one or more people (depending on the size of canoe), using single-bladed paddles. The paddlers face in the direction of travel, in either a seated position, or kneeling on the bottom of the boat. Canoes are open on top, and pointed at both ends.
nautical
Small and light boat; pointed at both ends; propelled with a paddle
slang
An oversize, usually older, luxury car.
verb
Travel by canoe
To ride or paddle a canoe.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- General and technical use
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A small long and narrow boat, propelled by one or more people (depending on the size of canoe), using single-bladed paddles. The paddlers face in the direction of travel, in either a seated position, or kneeling on the bottom of the boat. Canoes are open on top, and pointed at both ends.
Used this way, canoe is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. This is a nautical use: it is standard at sea and largely unfamiliar ashore.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Sailing/maritime
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use canoe
- “They decided to paddle their canoe across the quiet lake.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Small American birch with peeling white bark often worked into e.g. baskets or toy canoes.
Large valuable arborvitae of northwestern United States.
A canoe made by hollowing out and shaping a large log.
A canoe made with the bark of a birch tree.
A seagoing canoe (as in South Pacific) with an outrigger to prevent it from upsetting.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.