canton

1530s, from Middle French canton, from Old French canton (“corner”); heraldic sense from the 1570s, geographic sense from c. 1600.

• kanton

• IPA^(key): /ˈkæntn̩/
• IPA^(key): /ˈkæntɒn/ (especially in the flag sense)

canton (plural cantons)

1. A division of a political unit.
   • Davies

     that little canton of land called the "English pale"

   • Bishop Burnet

     There is another piece of Holbein's, […] in which, in six several cantons, the several parts of our Saviour's passion are represented.

   1. One of the states comprising the Swiss Confederation.
   2. A subdivision of an arrondissement of France.
   3. A division of Luxembourg, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.
2. A small community or clan.
3. A subdivision of a flag, the rectangular inset on the upper hoist (i.e., flagpole) side (e.g., the stars of the US national flag are in a canton).
4. (heraldry) A division of a shield occupying one third of the chief, usually on the dexter side, formed by a perpendicular line from the top meeting a horizontal line from the side.
   • Evelyn

     The king gave us the arms of England to be borne in a canton in our arms.

canton (third-person singular simple present cantons, present participle cantoning, simple past and past participle cantoned)

1. (transitive) To delineate as a separate district.
2. (transitive) To divide into cantons.
3. (transitive) To allot quarters to troops.

canton (plural cantons)

1. (obsolete) A song or canto.
   • Shakespeare

     Write loyal cantons of contemned love.

• Conant, cannot, noncat

From Middle French canton, from Old French canton (from the 1240s), from Old Occitan canton (“corner; canton”) (recorded before 1218), adopted in Occitan from North Italian (Gallo-Italic, early Lombard) cantone (“edge, corner; canton”), ultimately representing Latin cant- (“rim (of a wheel)”) with the addition of the -ō (accusative -ōnem) suffix forming augmentatives in Romance.

• IPA^(key): /kɑ̃.tɔ̃/

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canton m (plural cantons)

1. canton (of Switzerland, France or Luxembourg)
2. (heraldry) canton

• → German: Kanton

• “canton” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

canton m (plural cantoni)

1. corner

• cantonzsin