/ˈkænən/·noun·c. 1400–1425 CE in Middle English, in translations of Froissart and early 15th-century military records·Established
Origin
From Akkadian qanû ('reed') through Greek kanna, Latin canna, and Italian cannone ('big tube'), cannon entered English in the 15th century as a purely functional description — a large hollow cylinder — with the same root giving English both cane and canyon.
Definition
A large, heavy piece of artillery, typically mounted on wheels, designed to fire heavy projectiles by means of explosive propellant.
The Full Story
Middle English via Old French and Italian14th–15th centurywell-attested
The English word 'cannon' entered the language in the mid-15th century, borrowed from Old French canon, itself taken from Italian cannone, an augmentative of canna meaning 'tube, reed, pipe.' The Italian canna derives from Latin canna, 'reed, cane, tube,' borrowed from Greek kanna (κάννα), which was itself taken from a Semitic source — compare Akkadian qanû, Hebrew qāneh (קָנֶה), and Aramaic qanyā, all meaning 'reed, stalk, tube.' The earliest Italian attestations of cannone in the sense of a large-calibre artillery piece appear in the early 14th century, coinciding with the first European deployment of gunpowder artillery. The augmentative suffix -one in Italian ('large tube') captures
Did you know?
The word 'cannon' and the medical term 'cannula' ('a thin tube inserted into the body') share the exact same Latin root — canna, 'reed'. What became a weapon of massdestruction in its augmentative form (cannone, 'big tube') also became, in its diminutive form (cannula, 'little reed'), one of the most delicate instruments in surgery. The reed's hollow geometry, unchanged in concept, scaled from battlefield artillerydown to the needle entering a vein.
of a measuring rod), and 'canister.' Scholars including Ernout & Meillet (Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine) and the OED trace this path explicitly. Key roots: qanû / qāneh (Semitic (Akkadian / Hebrew): "reed, stalk, hollow tube — ultimate source via Greek and Latin"), kanna (κάννα) (Ancient Greek: "reed, cane; borrowed from Semitic and passed into Latin"), canna (Latin: "reed, cane, tube, pipe — direct parent of Italian canna and cannone").