canton

See also: cantón, Canton, and Cantón

English

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canton

Etymology 1

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

Alternative forms

kanton

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈkæntən/
IPA^(key): /ˈkæntɒn/ (especially in the flag sense)
Audio (Southern England): (file)

Noun

canton (plural cantons)

A division of a political unit.
- 1912, Joseph McCabe (translator), We Must Take Sides; or, The Principle of Action (originally by Voltaire)
  These three millions live in a small canton of Egypt which cannot maintain twenty thousand people
- 20 May, 1686, Gilbert Burnet, letter from Nimmengen
  There is another piece of Holbein's, […] in which, in six several cantons, the several parts of our Saviour's passion are represented.
2. One of the states comprising the Swiss Confederation.
4. An administrative division within a department in France, often being a subdivision of an arrondissement.
  - 2007, Graham Robb, quoting an unnamed writer, “Chapter 2: The Tribes of France, I”, in The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography, W.W. Norton and Company, →ISBN, page 44:
    According to a peasant novelist from the Bourbonnais, this was just as true in the 1840s as it was before the Revolution: "We had not the slightest notion of the outside world. Beyond the limits of the canton, and beyond the known distances, lay mysterious lands that were thought to be dangerous and inhabited by barbarians."
5. A division of Luxembourg, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.
6. (obsolete) A subdivision of a county, of Quebec, Canada; equivalent to a township.
A small community or clan.
A subdivision of a flag, the rectangular inset on the upper hoist (i.e., flagpole) side, the upper-left quadrant of a flag, (the stars of the US national flag are in a canton).
(heraldry) A division of a shield occupying one third of the chief, usually on the dexter side, formed by a perpendicular line from the top meeting a horizontal line from the side.
- 1662 August 31 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 21 August 1662]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC:
  The king gave us the arms of England to be borne in a canton in our arms.

Derived terms

Translations

state of Switzerland

Arabic:
Hijazi Arabic: كانتون m (kāntōn)
Armenian: կանտոն (hy) (kanton)
Catalan: cantó (ca) m
Czech: kanton (cs) m
Danish: kanton c
Dutch: kanton (nl) n
Finnish: piirikunta (fi), kantoni (fi)
French: canton (fr) m
Galician: cantón (gl) m
Georgian: კანტონი (ḳanṭoni)
German: Kanton (de) m
Greek: καντόνι (el) n (kantóni)
Hebrew: קנטון m (qant'on)
Hungarian: kanton (hu)
Icelandic: kantóna f
Irish: cantún m
Italian: cantone (it) m, Canton (it) (when used in the names of some cantons)
Korean: 주(州) (ju)
Latin: pāgus (la) m
Macedonian: канто́н m (kantón)
Polish: kanton (pl) m
Portuguese: cantão (pt) m
Romansh: chantun m (Rumantsch Grischun, Puter, Vallader), cantun m (Sursilvan), cantùn m (Sutsilvan), cantung m (Surmiran)
Russian: канто́н (ru) m (kantón)
Spanish: cantón (es) m
Swedish: kanton (sv)
Tatar: кантун (qantun)
Turkish: kanton (tr)

subdivision of an arrondissement

Dutch: kanton (nl) n
Esperanto: kantono (eo)
French: canton (fr) m
German: Kanton (de) m
Korean: 주(州) (ju)
Macedonian: канто́н m (kantón)
Portuguese: cantão (pt) m
Russian: канто́н (ru) m (kantón)
Spanish: cantón (es) m
Swedish: kanton (sv) c

subdivision of Luxembourg

Dutch: kanton (nl) n
French: canton (fr) m
Georgian: კანტონი (ḳanṭoni)
German: Kanton (de) m
Icelandic: kantóna f
Irish: cantún m
Korean: 주(州) (ju)
Luxembourgish: Kanton
Macedonian: канто́н m (kantón)
Portuguese: cantão (pt) m
Spanish: cantón (es) m
Swedish: kanton (sv) c

subdivision of Serbia

Dutch: kanton (nl) n
French: canton (fr) m
German: Kanton (de) m
Irish: cantún m
Korean: 주(州) (ju)
Macedonian: канто́н m (kantón)
Portuguese: cantão (pt) m

subdivision of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Dutch: kanton (nl) n
French: canton (fr) m
German: Kanton (de) m
Irish: cantún m
Korean: 주(州) (ju)
Macedonian: канто́н m (kantón)
Portuguese: cantão (pt) m
Swedish: kanton (sv) c

subdivision of flag

Macedonian: канто́н m (kantón)
Manx: kerrin m
Serbo-Croatian:
Latin: kanton (sh) m, ugao (sh) m
Spanish: cantón (es) m
Swedish: kanton (sv) c

heraldry; one of the ordinaries

Catalan: cantó (ca) m
Dutch: vrijkwartier n
Finnish: kolkka (fi)
French: canton (fr) m
German: Freiviertel n
Irish: cúinneán m
Italian: cantone (it) m
Polish: kanton (pl) m
Portuguese: cantão (pt) m
Spanish: cantón (es) m
Swedish: kanton (sv) c

Verb

canton (third-person singular simple present cantons, present participle cantoning, simple past and past participle cantoned)

(transitive) To delineate as a separate district.
(transitive) To divide into cantons.
(transitive) To quarter troops by requisitioning housing from the civilian population.
- 1854, O. F. Winship, E. E. McLean (translators), Summary of the Art of War (originally by Antoine-Henri Jomini)
  To the end of husbanding the supplies, he will cause to be cantoned in the cities and villages the greatest possible numbers of troops
(intransitive) To be allotted such quarters.
- 1854, O. F. Winship, E. E. McLean (translators), Summary of the Art of War (originally by Antoine-Henri Jomini)
  An army, falling back upon its lines of magazines, may [...] make its retreat with more security than one which has to canton, to subsist, and to extend itself to find cantonments.

Etymology 2

Noun

canton (plural cantons)

(obsolete) A song or canto.
- c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:
  Write loyal cantons of contemnèd love / And sing them loud even in the dead of night.

Anagrams

Conant, Nacton, cannot, nonact, noncat

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French canton, from Old French canton (from the 1240s), from Old Occitan canton (“corner; canton”) (recorded before 1218), adopted in Occitan from North Italian (Gallo-Italic, early Lombard) cantone (“edge, corner; canton”), ultimately representing Latin cant- (“rim (of a wheel)”) with the addition of the -ō (accusative -ōnem) suffix forming augmentatives in Romance.