canton

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈkæntən/ See IPA manual

Freq #21760

Meanings

1

noun
A division of a political unit.

These three millions live in a small canton of Egypt which cannot maintain twenty thousand people.
2

noun
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.

The king gave us the arms of England to be borne in a canton in our arms.
3

verb
To quarter troops by requisitioning housing from the civilian population.

To the end of husbanding the supplies, he will cause to be cantoned in the cities and villages the greatest possible numbers of troops.
4

verb
To be allotted such quarters.

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.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Word family

Derived forms cantonercantonesecantonisecantonize

Etymology

From Portuguese Cantão, from Mandarin 廣東 /广东 (Guǎngdōng). Doublet of Guangdong. Compare Spanish Cantón, French Canton, Italian Canton, Russian Кантон (Kanton). Unrelated to English canton.

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# canton

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈkæntən/
**Frequency rank:** 21760

## Meanings
1. A division of a political unit.
2. 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.
3. To quarter troops by requisitioning housing from the civilian population.
4. To be allotted such quarters.

## Examples
- These three millions live in a small canton of Egypt which cannot maintain twenty thousand people.
- The king gave us the arms of England to be borne in a canton in our arms.
- To the end of husbanding the supplies, he will cause to be cantoned in the cities and villages the greatest possible numbers of troops.
- 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.

## Derived Forms
- cantoner
- cantonese
- cantonise
- cantonize

## Etymology
From Portuguese Cantão, from Mandarin 廣東 /广东 (Guǎngdōng). Doublet of Guangdong. Compare Spanish Cantón, French Canton, Italian Canton, Russian Кантон (Kanton). Unrelated to English canton.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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