"C" Word Origins

canteen

French

Borrowed from French cantine, itself from Italian cantina, "cellar" or "wine store."

canter

Origin

Short for "Canterbury pace," referring to the supposedly gentle pace of medieval pilgrims riding to Canterbury.

Canterbury

Origin

Named after the English cathedral city of Canterbury, apparently because early furniture of this type was first made or sold there.

canticle

Origin

From Latin canticulum, diminutive of cantus (“song”).

cantina

Italian

From Spanish cantina, from Italian cantina, "cellar." A doublet of "canteen."

canto

Italian

From Italian canto, "song." A doublet of "chant."

canton

Old French

From Middle French canton, from Old French canton, "corner."

Cantonese

Origin

From "Canton," the old Western name for Guangzhou, plus the suffix "-ese."

cantonment

Origin

From French cantonnement.

cantor

Latin

Borrowed from Latin cantor, "singer," from canere, "to sing." A doublet of "chanter."

cantrall

Origin

Variant of Cantrell.

Cantrell

Old French

Various origins: * Habitational surname from a minor place in Devon, from an unexplained first element + Old English hyll (“hill”). * From Old French chanterelle (“small bell, treble”), a metonymic occupational surname for a bellmaker or ringer. * A diminutive of Canter.

Cantwell

Origin

Perhaps a variant of Canwell, a habitational surname.

canute

Origin

Inherited from Middle English Canut, from Anglo-Norman *Canut, Kenut (compare Medieval Latin Canūtus), from Old Norse Knútr, possibly originally a byname meaning "knot".

canvas

Latin

From Old Northern French canevas, ultimately from Latin cannabis, "hemp." A doublet of "cannabis."

canvass

Origin

Derived from "canvas" (the cloth) — originally meaning to toss someone in a canvas sheet, which extended over time to mean thoroughly testing or examining, and eventually came to mean seeking political support.

canyon

Latin

Borrowed from Spanish cañón — the same word gives us "cannon" (both trace back to a Latin word for a tube or pipe).

Cao

Origin

From the pinyin romanization of Mandarin 曹 (Cáo).

cap

Late Latin

From Old English cæppe ("hood, head-covering"), itself borrowed from Late Latin cappa. The same root eventually gave English "cape," "cope," and "chapel."

capa

Spanish

Straight from Spanish capa ("cloak"), a relative of English "cape."

capability

Origin

Built in English from "capable" plus the suffix "-ity," which turns adjectives into nouns.

capable

Late Latin

From Middle French capable, from Late Latin capabilis — related to Latin capere ("to take, to hold"), the same root behind "capacity."

capacious

Origin

From Latin capāx (“wide, spacious, large; capable”) + -ious. Displaced native Old English numol.

capacitive

Origin

From capacity + -ive.

capacitor

Origin · 1920

Formed from "capacity" plus "-or." It replaced the older word "condenser" in the 1920s to avoid confusion with steam condensers.

capacity

Latin

From Latin capacitas, from capax ("able to hold much"), from capere ("to take, hold, seize") — the same root behind "capable" and "capture."

caparison

Origin

From Middle French caparasson (Modern French caparaçon), from Old Spanish caparazón, from Old Occitan capairon.

cape

Latin

From Old French cap ("cape, headland"), from Latin caput ("head") — the geographic sense (a "head" of land) and the clothing sense both share this root.

caped

Origin

From "cape" plus the adjective-forming suffix "-ed."

Capella

Latin

From Latin capella ("little she-goat"), because the star was linked in old star charts to a goat carried by the constellation's figure.

caper

Latin

A shortened form of "capriole," a leaping movement, ultimately from Latin caper ("goat") — goats being known for their bouncy jumps.

capisce

Latin

Borrowed from Neapolitan and Sicilian Italian, from capire ("to understand"), from Latin capere ("to grasp, seize, comprehend").

capita

Latin

From Latin capita, the plural of caput ("head") — the same root that gives English "capital" and "decapitate."

capitaine

French

Borrowed directly from French capitaine.

capital

Latin

From Latin capitalis ("of the head"), from caput ("head"). The financial sense grew out of medieval trade in "heads" of cattle — property was literally counted in animal heads.

capital gains

English

From capital in its financial sense of wealth held as assets, plus gain, an increase in value.

capitalism

French · 1850

From French capitalisme, built from "capital" plus "-ism." First used in English by novelist William Thackeray in the 1850s.

capitalist

French

From "capital" plus "-ist," on the model of French capitaliste.

capitalistic

Origin

From capitalist + -ic, probably after German kapitalistisch. Derived from Proto-Indo-European *káput (“head”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap-.

capitalizable

Origin

From capitalize + -able.

capitalize

Origin

From "capital" plus "-ize."

capitan

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish capitán.

Capitol

Latin

From Latin Capitolium, the hill in ancient Rome topped by temples and government buildings.

capitulate

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin capitulare ("to draw up under headings, to negotiate terms"), from capitulum ("chapter, heading"), a diminutive of caput ("head").

capitulation

Latin

Via French from medieval Latin capitulare, to draw up under headings, from capitulum a little head or chapter; surrender terms were originally set out heading by heading.

capitulatory

Origin

From capitulate + -ory.

caplet

Origin

Blend of capsule + tablet.

capo

Italian

Shortened from Italian capotasto ("head of fingerboard"); the crime-family sense comes from Italian capo ("head, boss").