canvas
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canvas¹
- /ˈkæn.vəs/
- /ˈkæn.væs/ Nigeria
Sounds like canvass
Where it comes from
From Middle English canevas, from Anglo-Norman, from Old Northern French canevas (compare Old French chanevas, chenevas) from a root derived from Latin cannabis, from Ancient Greek κάνναβις (kánnabis). Compare French canevas, resulting from a blend of the Old French and a Picard dialect word, itself from Old Northern French. Doublet of cannabis and hemp.
noun canvases · canvasses · canvass
- A type of coarse cloth, woven from hemp (traditionally) or from cotton and polyesters, useful for making sails, tents, and overcoats or as a surface for paintings. The term canvas is very widely used, as well to denote the coarse fabrics employed for kitchen use, as for strainers, and wraps for meat, as for the best quality of ordinary table and shirting linen.
- A piece of such cloth stretched across a frame on which one may paint an artwork. She is painting a moonlight scene on the canvas.
- A mesh of loosely woven cotton strands or molded plastic to be decorated with needlepoint, cross-stitch, rug hooking, or other crafts.
- A basis for creative work. The author takes rural midwestern life as a canvas for a series of tightly woven character studies
- A region on which graphics can be rendered.
- Sails in general. The double desire of being able to overtake a weaker flying enemy, or to escape when pursued by a stronger, has induced the owners to overmast their cruisers, and to spread too much canvass; and the great number of men, many of them not seamen, who being upon deck when a ship heels suddenly are hudd
- A tent. He spent the night under canvas.
- A rough draft or model of a song, air, or other literary or musical composition; especially one to show a poet the measure of the verses he is to make.
- Athletic shoes.
verb canvases · canvasing · canvased
- To cover (an area or object) with canvas.
canvas²
- /ˈkæn.vəs/
- /ˈkæn.væs/ Nigeria
Sounds like canvass
Where it comes from
A variant of canvass.
verb canvases · canvasing · canvased
- Obsolete spelling of canvass And with the aunſwere here vpon eftſoones in hand they go, / The doubtfull wordes wherof they ſcan and canuas to and fro.
noun canvases
- Obsolete spelling of canvass […] I haue learned this faſhion of Sᵗ. Hierome the Oracle of Antiquitie, vvho vvas vvont to entertaine his Paula, and Euſtochium, Marcella, Principia, Hedibia, and other deuout Ladies, vvith learned canuaſes of the deep pointes of Diuinity.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: sheet, sail, poll, canvas tent, screen, paint, mat, carpeting, tarp, carpet, net, table, fabric, webbing, ticking, rug
Translations
Every language
noun type of coarse cloth
| Español | lona |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 타프 tapeu, 범포 beompo |
| 日本語 | 帆布 hanpu, キャンバス kyanbasu, ズック zukku |
| 中文 | 帆布 fānbù |
| Português | lona |
| Français | toile |
| Deutsch | Leinen, Segeltuch, Canvas |
| Italiano | canovaccio, tela |
| Ελληνικά | καραβόπανο karavópano, λινάτσα linátsa, καναβάτσο kanavátso |
| Română | canava |
| Русский | холст xolst, паруси́на parusína, брезе́нт brezént |
| עברית | קַנְבָס kanvás |
noun piece of canvas cloth on which one may paint
| Español | lienzo, tela, brabante |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 캔버스 kaenbeoseu, 화폭 hwapok |
| 日本語 | 画布 gafu, キャンバス kyanbasu, カンバス kanbasu |
| 中文 | 畫布 /画布 huàbù |
| Português | tela |
| Français | toile, canevas |
| Deutsch | Leinwand |
| Italiano | tela |
| Ελληνικά | καμβάς kamvás, μουσαμάς mousamás |
| Română | pânză |
| Русский | холст xolst, полотно́ polotnó |
| Tiếng Việt | can-vát |
Talk about this word "canvas." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/canvas. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. canvas. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/canvas "canvas." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/canvas.Cite this
@misc{canvas_2026,
title = {canvas},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/canvas},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
