Canuck

Where it comes from

Origin uncertain, often hypothesized to derive from the name or speech of an early Canadian minority, later broadened to denote all Canadians:

* Since 1975, many scholars have come to think the name is from Hawaiian kanaka (“man”), a self-appellation of indentured colonial canoemen and Hawaiian sailors working off the Pacific Northwest, Arctic, and New England coasts, from French canaque (“indigenous Melanesian inhabitant of New Caledonia, Kanak”); or, more likely, American whalers’ pidgin, then re-interpreted as Can(adian) + a suffix. (More below on that [specific] putative suffix.) Compare English Kanak and German Kanake.

* Some dictionaries suggest it is derived from the first syllable of Canada, or its etymon Laurentian kanata (“village”), or a related word kanuchsa meaning “villager” in either Laurentian or another Iroquoian language; with the second syllable connected to Inuktitut inuk (“man; person”), from Chinook (“Aboriginal people of the U.S. Pacific Northwest”), or another First-Nation language ending like -oc, -uc, or -uq.

* Fanciful and unlikely suggestions include German genug von Canada (literally “enough of Canada”) (allegedly uttered by German mercenaries during the American War of Independence), French quelle canule (“what a bore”) (allegedly uttered by the French during a siege of Quebec), or the surname Connaught /ˈkɑ.nəxt/ (supposedly a French-Canadian nickname for the Irish).