canard

American  

[kuh-nahrd, ka-nar] / kəˈnɑrd, kaˈnar /

noun

• canards
  plural

1. a false or baseless, usually derogatory story, report, or rumor.

2. Cooking. a duck intended or used for food.

3. Aeronautics.

   1. an airplane that has its horizontal stabilizer and elevators located forward of the wing.

   2. Also called canard wing. one of two small lifting wings located in front of the main wings.

   3. an early airplane having a pusher engine with the rudder and elevator assembly in front of the wings.

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canard British  

/ kæˈnɑːd, kanar /

noun

1. a false report; rumour or hoax

2. an aircraft in which the tailplane is mounted in front of the wing

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• canards
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of canard

First recorded in 1840–45; from French: literally, “duck,” from Old French quanart “drake,” originally “cackler,” equivalent to can(er) “to cackle” (of expressive origin) + -art -art, as in mallart “drake”; see mallard

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Explanation

During a political campaign, you will often hear on TV commercials some canard about the opponent. This is a false, deluding statement designed to confuse the voters, as it presents the other candidate in a bad light by spreading an untruth. The Old French word quanart, "duck," morphed into canard, as in "vendre un canard à moitié," which refers to "half-selling" a duck, or cheating someone, and the word came to mean something meant to fool someone deliberately. Poet James Whitcomb Riley said, "When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck." Not always the case with canard.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

canard canards

In another song about the absurd reasons why they have been deemed unfit for society, the girls drag out that old canard: “Sane in an insane world.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026

This year, let’s agree to dispel the canard that “summer reading” or “beach books” are something frivolous or less important than the serious literature celebrated in austere outlets like the London Review of Books.

From Seattle Times ● May 14, 2024

La Tour d'Argent rose to fame in the 19th Century and gained notoriety for its signature duck dish, canard au sang, which translates to bloody duck and uses the bird's juices to make a sauce.

From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2024

This is another quacking canard from the Simpson duck pond.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 24, 2023

I met a man on leave to-day, and he says that's the latest canard.

From Non-combatants and Others by Dame Rose Macaulay

Let’s examine some of the other common canards about gun violence and gun laws, and start thinking about how to move the needle.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2022

In fact, she regards Darwin’s work as “impressive,” and makes no argument for a young Earth, the fixity of species or any of the other usual creationist canards.

From Scientific American ● Apr. 17, 2018

I’d rather see Facebook make mistakes in pursuit of a better one than cling to the old canards about algorithmic neutrality.

From Slate ● Jan. 25, 2018

This is one of the many canards pushed by the “hoaxers,” as they call themselves.

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 22, 2016

Performances of your works in the French or Italian language must for the present be looked upon as pia desideria, or else as newspaper canards.

From Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt — Volume 2 by Francis Hueffer

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Related Words

• hoax

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