different between cant vs canto

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: k?nt, IPA^(key): /kænt/
• Rhymes: -ænt
• Homophone: can't (US), Homophone: Kant (in anglicized pronunciation)

Etymology 1

From Latin cant? probably via Old Northern French canter (“sing, tell”). Doublet of chant.

Noun

cant (usually uncountable, plural cants)

1. (countable) An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.

   Synonyms: argot, jargon, slang

   • 1836, Three discourses preached before the Congregational Society in Watertown, page 65

2. (countable, uncountable) A private or secret language used by a religious sect, gang, or other group.

   Synonyms: argot, jargon, slang

3. A language spoken by some Irish Travellers; Shelta.
4. (uncountable, derogatory) Empty, hypocritical talk.
   • 1903, Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh, ch 46:

     ... he knew very well that if they thought him clever they were being taken in, but it pleased him to have been able to take them in, and he tried to do so still further; he was therefore a good deal on the look-out for cants that he could catch and apply in season, and might have done himself some mischief thus if he had not been ready to throw over any cant as soon as he had come across another more nearly to his fancy ...

5. (uncountable) Whining speech, such as that used by beggars.
6. (countable, heraldry) A blazon of a coat of arms that makes a pun upon the name (or, less often, some attribute or function) of the bearer, canting arms.
7. (obsolete) A call for bidders at a public fair; an auction.

Related terms

Translations

Verb

cant (third-person singular simple present cants, present participle canting, simple past and past participle canted)

1. (intransitive) To speak with the jargon of a class or subgroup.
2. (intransitive) To speak in set phrases.
3. (intransitive) To preach in a singsong fashion, especially in a false or empty manner.
4. (intransitive, heraldry) Of a blazon, to make a pun that references the bearer of a coat of arms.
5. (obsolete) To sell by auction, or bid at an auction.

See also

• jargon
• sociolect

Etymology 2

From Middle English cant (“edge, brink”), from Middle Dutch cant (“point, side, edge”) (Modern Dutch kant (“side, edge”)), ultimately of Celtic or Latin origin. Related to Medieval Latin cantus (“corner, side”), from Latin canthus.

Noun

cant (plural cants)

1. (obsolete) Side, edge, corner, niche.
2. Slope, the angle at which something is set.
3. A corner (of a building).

   Synonym: corner

4. An outer or external angle.
5. An inclination from a horizontal or vertical line; a slope or bevel; a tilt.

   Synonyms: bevel, slope, tilt

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Totten to this entry?)

6. A movement or throw that overturns something.
   • 1830, The Edinburgh Encyclopedia, volume 3, page 621

     It is not only of great service in keeping the boat in her due position on the sea, but also in creating a tendency immediately to recover from any sudden cant, or lurch, from a heavy wave; and it is besides beneficial in diminishing the violence of beating against the sides of the vessel which she may go to relieve.

7. A sudden thrust, push, kick, or other impulse, producing a bias or change of direction; also, the bias or turn so given.

8. (coopering) A segment forming a side piece in the head of a cask.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

9. A segment of the rim of a wooden cogwheel.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

10. (nautical) A piece of wood laid upon the deck of a vessel to support the bulkheads.

Derived terms

• cantrail

Related terms

• cantilever

Translations

Verb

cant (third-person singular simple present cants, present participle canting, simple past and past participle canted)

1. (transitive) To set (something) at an angle.

   to cant a cask; to cant a ship

2. (transitive) To give a sudden turn or new direction to.

   to cant round a stick of timber; to cant a football

3. (transitive) To bevel an edge or corner.
4. (transitive) To overturn so that the contents are emptied.

Translations

Etymology 3

Unknown, but compare Provençal cantel (“corner, piece”) or Old Northern French cantel (“piece broken off”). The verb is attested from the 15th century, and the noun from the 16th.

Verb

cant (third-person singular simple present cants, present participle canting, simple past and past participle canted)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To divide or parcel out.

Noun

cant (plural cants)

1. (regional, forestry) A parcel, a division.

Etymology 4

From Middle English cant, kaunt, presumably from Middle Low German *kant. Compare Dutch kant (“neat, clever”). Attested from the 13th or 14th century.

Alternative forms

• kant

Adjective

cant (not comparable)

1. (Britain, dialect) Lively, lusty.

References

Further reading

• Cant (language) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• NCTA, T-Can

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Occitan cant, from Latin cantus.

Noun

cant m (plural cants)

1. song

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?kant/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /?kan/

Synonyms

• cançó

Related terms

• cantar

Italian

Noun

cant m (invariable)

1. Apocopic form of canto

Middle English

Etymology

Possibly from Middle Low German *kant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kant/

Adjective

cant

1. (Scotland, Northern England) bold, lively, cant
   • c. 1340, Cursor Mundi, Cotton Vespasian A iii, lines 8943-46:

     Iuus þat war sa cant and kene, / Quen þai had þis meracles sene, / þai drou it þen and mad a brig / Ouer a litel burn to lig

     Jews who were so bold and ready, when they had seen this miracle, pulled it out and made a bridge over a little stream to lie

Descendants

• English: cant (dialectal)
• Scots: cant

Romanian

Etymology

From German Kante.

Noun

cant n (plural canturi)

1. edge

Declension

Scots

Alternative forms

• kant

Etymology

From Middle English cant (“bold, lively”)

Adjective

cant

1. (Middle Scots) lively
   • 1513, Gavin Douglas (translator), Virgil (author), Aeneid:

     The cadgyar callis furth his capill with crakkis wail cant

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kant/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Brythonic *kant, from Proto-Celtic *kantom, from Proto-Indo-European *?m?tóm.

Numeral

cant (ordinal canfed)

1. one hundred

Usage notes

• Preceding a noun, cant takes the form can.
• Cardinals following cant employ a (“and”) as a connecting word, which stands in contrast to ordinals after canfed, which use wedi'r (“past the, after the”), e.g. cant ac un (“one hundred and one”) but cyntaf wedi'r cant (“hundred-and-first”).

Derived terms

• hanner cant (“fifty”)
• cant a hanner (“one hundred and fifty”)
• dau gant (“two hundred”)
• tri chant (“three hundred”)
• pum cant (“five hundred”)

Noun

cant m (plural cannoedd)

1. hundred
2. century

Etymology 2

Middle Welsh, from Proto-Celtic *kantos (“corner, rim”). Related to Breton kant (“circle”), Old Irish cétad (“round seat”).

Noun

cant m (plural cantau)

1. hoop
2. rim

Mutation

References

• Definition from the BBC
• Hoops, Johannes (1973): Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, Volume 16, p. 445

English

Etymology

From Italian canto (“song”). Doublet of chant.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kænt??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?kænto?/
• Rhymes: -ænt??

Noun

canto (plural cantos)

1. One of the chief divisions of a long poem; a book.
2. (music) The treble or leading melody.

Translations

Anagrams

• Acton, Caton, act on, acton, octan

Asturian

Verb

canto

1. first-person singular present indicative of cantar

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?kan.to/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /?kan.tu/

Verb

canto

1. first-person singular present indicative form of cantar

Galician

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kanto?/

Etymology 1

From Old Galician and Old Portuguese canto, from Latin cantus.

Noun

canto m (uncountable)

1. singing
2. hymn, song

Verb

canto

1. first-person singular present indicative of cantar

Etymology 2

From Old Galician and Old Portuguese canto (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria); from a pre-Roman substrate of Iberia and having a probable Celtic origin.

Noun

canto m (plural cantos)

1. middle or small sized stone
   • 1370, R. Lorenzo (ed.), Crónica troiana. A Coruña: Fundación Barrié, page 605:

     [Et] poserõ perlos muros beesteyros et arque[yro]s muytos et outros, pera deytar quantos et paos agudos metudos en ferros, en guisa que os que se quisesem chegar ao muro nõ podesem escapar de morte

     And they arranged many crossbowmen and bowmen on the walls, an others to throw stones and sharp sticks inserted in irons, so as the ones who wanted to come near the wall could not escape death

   Synonym: callao

Derived terms

Etymology 3

Documented already in Latin as canthus (“metal tire”), voice that was interpreted as Hispanic or African by Quintilian; in that case, from a hypothetical Proto-Celtic *kantos (confer Welsh cant (“rim”)). Otherwise Latin canthus could perhaps come from Ancient Greek ?????? (kanthós, “corner of the eye”).

Noun

canto m (plural cantos)

1. rim of a round object

   Synonym: bordo

2. extreme of a place
3. corner

   Synonym: recanto

Derived terms

References

• “canto” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006-2012.
• “canto” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
• “canto” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006-2013.
• “canto” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “canto” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Interlingua

Noun

canto (plural cantos)

1. song

Italian

Etymology 1

From Latin cantus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kan.to/

Noun

canto m (plural canti)

1. song
2. singing

Related terms

Descendants

• English: bel canto

Etymology 2

From Latin canthus, from Ancient Greek ?????? (kanthós), meaning corner, specifically the corner of the eye. Or from a Vulgar Latin *cantus, a word of Mediterranean origin akin to the aforementioned Greek term

Noun

canto m (plural canti)

1. corner
2. side

Related terms

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

canto

1. first-person singular present indicative of cantare

Anagrams

• conta

References

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?kan.to?/, [?kän?t?o?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?kan.to/, [?k?n?t??]

Etymology 1

From can? (“I sing”) +? -t? (frequentative suffix). See cantus.

Verb

cant? (present infinitive cant?re, perfect active cant?v?, supine cant?tum); first conjugation

1. I sing (all senses)
2. I enchant, or call forth by charms, chant

Usage notes

The sense of cant? essentially coincides with that of can? with the additional possible sense of the practice of charms or enchantments.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Participle

cant?

1. dative/ablative masculine/neuter singular of cantus

References

• canto in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• canto in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• canto in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• canto in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• canto in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700?^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Portugal, Brazil) IPA^(key): /?k??.tu/
• Hyphenation: can?to

Etymology 1

From Old Portuguese canto, from Latin cantus (“song; singing”), perfect passive participle of can? (“I sing”), from Proto-Indo-European *kan- (“to sing”). Cognate of English chant

Noun

canto m (plural cantos)

1. singing (the act of using the voice to produce musical sounds)

   Synonym: cantoria

2. chant
3. a bird’s song

   Synonym: canção

4. (figuratively) any pleasant sound
5. (poetry) canto

Derived terms

Related terms

Etymology 2

From Latin canthus or Vulgar Latin *cantus, from Ancient Greek ?????? (kanthós, “corner of the eye”).

Noun

canto m (plural cantos)

1. corner (space in the angle between converging lines or surfaces)

   Synonyms: ângulo, esquina, quina

2. a remote location

   Synonyms: recanto, retiro

3. an undetermined or unknown location
4. (sports) the corner of the goal line and touchline
   1. (soccer) corner (a corner kick)

      Synonym: pontapé de canto

6. (architecture) type of stone used in the corners of a building

Derived terms

• por todo canto

Related terms

• canteiro

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

canto

1. first-person singular (eu) present indicative of cantar

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kanto/, [?kãn?.t?o]

Etymology 1

From Latin cantus.

Noun

canto m (plural cantos)

1. singing
2. song
3. chant

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Etymology 2

From Latin canthus (“metal rim of a wheel”), from Ancient Greek ?????? (kanthós), or from a Vulgar Latin cantus, of ultimately the same origin, or less likely Celtic origin, from Gaulish *cantos, from Proto-Celtic *kantos (“corner”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh?nd?-.

Noun

canto m (plural cantos)

1. edge
2. side
3. (rare) thickness
4. a piece of stone
5. (anatomy) canthus

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Cebuano: kanto
• ? Tagalog: kanto

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

canto

1. First-person singular (yo) present indicative form of cantar.

Further reading

• “canto” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.