canoe

American  

[kuh-noo] / kəˈnu /

noun

1. any of various slender, open boats, tapering to a point at both ends, propelled by paddles or sometimes sails and traditionally formed of light framework covered with bark, skins, or canvas, or formed from a dug-out or burned-out log or logs, and now usually made of aluminum, fiberglass, etc.

2. any of various small, primitive light boats.

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verb (used without object)

canoed, canoeing

1. to paddle a canoe.

2. to go in a canoe.

verb (used with object)

canoed, canoeing

1. to transport or carry by canoe.

idioms

1. paddle one's own canoe,

   1. to handle one's own affairs; manage independently.

   2. to mind one's own business.

canoe British  

/ kəˈnuː /

noun

1. a light narrow open boat, propelled by one or more paddles

2. another word for waka

3. of the same tribe

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verb

1. to go in a canoe or transport by canoe

canoe More Idioms  

1. see paddle one's own canoe.

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Other Word Forms

• canoeing noun
• canoeist noun

Etymology

Origin of canoe

1545–55; < French < Spanish canoa < Arawak; replacing canoa < Spanish

Explanation

A canoe is a narrow boat that you propel and steer by paddling. Most canoes are fairly light, so that one or two people can carry them easily to the water. A canoe is wide enough for one person to sit in front of another, and pointed at both ends. Paddlers sit or kneel in the canoe and push through the water with wide, usually wooden paddles to direct their path through the water. The word canoe comes, by way of the Spanish canoa, from the Haitian language known as Carib or Arawakan, canaoua.

Example Sentences

The softball tournament will be in Oklahoma City’s Devon Park, which hosts the Women’s College World Series every year, and canoe slalom will take place at Riversport OKC, the official U.S.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026

Strickland moved out of Manhattan and rented a cabin in Woodstock, across a pond from Pierson, who would canoe over to see him every morning.

From BBC • Mar. 17, 2026

Her husband, Joseph Hougebe, remembers whistling into the night, eagerly waiting to hear a paddle tapping against the hull of a dugout canoe -- coded signals in the darkness.

From Barron's • Feb. 12, 2026

A 2021 photograph by Maree Clarke is an exception; family members in traditional regalia are seated by a reed canoe, with the skyline of Melbourne in the background, powerfully fusing past and present.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 28, 2026

One less canoe meant divvying up the cargo and redistributing the weight across the remaining canoes.

From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple

Related Words

• kayak
• outrigger