cannoneer

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   An artillery soldier who maintains and operates (historical) a cannon, or (now) some other piece of heavy artillery.

   Luckily, the cannoneer was only mildly injured when his cannon malfunctioned.

Borrowed from French canonnier, with the ending reshaped to English -eer (suffix forming agent nouns denoting people associated with, concerned with, or engaged in specified activities). Canonnier is derived from Middle French cannonier, canonnier, from canon (“cannon”) (from cane (from Old French cane (“tube”), from Latin canna (“cane; reed; something resembling a cane”), from Ancient Greek κᾰ́ννᾱ (kắnnā, “giant reed (Arundo donax)”), from Akkadian 𒂵𒉡𒌑𒌝 (qanûm, “reed”)) + -on (augmentative suffix)) + -ier (suffix denoting a profession). By surface analysis, cannon + -eer.

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