canal

American  

[kuh-nal] / kəˈnæl /

noun

canals plural

1. an artificial waterway for navigation, irrigation, etc.

2. a long narrow arm of the sea penetrating far inland.

3. a tubular passage or cavity for food, air, etc., especially in an animal or plant; a duct.

4. channel; watercourse.

5. Astronomy. one of the long, narrow, dark lines on the surface of the planet Mars, as seen telescopically from the earth.

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verb (used with object)

canalled, canaled, canalling, canaling

1. to make a canal through.

canal British  

/ kəˈnæl /

noun

1. an artificial waterway constructed for navigation, irrigation, water power, etc

2. any of various tubular passages or ducts

   the alimentary canal

3. any of various elongated intercellular spaces in plants

4. astronomy any of the indistinct surface features of Mars originally thought to be a network of channels but not seen on close-range photographs. They are caused by an optical illusion in which faint geological features appear to have a geometric structure

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verb

1. to dig a canal through

2. to provide with a canal or canals

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• canals
  plural

Etymology

Origin of canal

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English: “waterpipe, tubular passage,” from Latin canālis, perhaps equivalent to can(na) “reed, pipe” ( see cane) + -ālis -al ¹; canal def. 5 a mistranslation of Italian canali “channels,” the term used by G. V. Schiaparelli

Explanation

A canal is a long, man-made strip of water used for irrigation or boat access to a bigger body of water, like the famous Erie Canal, which connects the Hudson River to Lake Erie. Canal is related to the word channel, and all its different shades of meaning have to do with tunnel shaped spaces that carry liquid from one place to another. Besides man-made irrigation canals, canals that connect boat docks to rivers and oceans, or street-like canals in boat cities like Amsterdam, there are canals in your body, like your nasal canal, or the birth canal you came out of. It's also a verb meaning "to dig a canal."

Example Sentences

The source of the stench was the canal itself, a stretch of sewage, chemicals and other unmentionables in “green water that hissed and bubbled like a witch’s cauldron.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 9, 2026

It also found a wide variation in root canal charges with prices in some places reaching £660 compared to a £400 average.

From BBC • Jun. 11, 2026

The device will completely block the ear canal and cause a low buzzing noise that makes drifting off hard.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2026

The five-bedroom, 5,600-square-foot mansion overlooks a canal and features built-ins, marble floors, and a three-car garage.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 8, 2026

Some of my schoolmates say the Americans are planning to build a canal in Panama.

From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman