DCHP-1 Online

Canuck ((n.)) [origin uncertain; see suggestion at 1963 quote (def. 1)] It is not clear whether this term was first applied to French Canadians or to residents of Canada in general; in spite of the order dictated by the dates of the Canadian evidence, it is probable that the term first designated a French Canadian since in the early nineteenth century the term Canadian itself most often referred to a French Canadian.

• 1 n. Informal a native or citizen of Canada.

  See also: Jack Canuck  Johnny Canuck  

  • In spite of the definition given in many dictionaries still, the term Canuck as applied by Canadians to themselves is not at all derogatory, quite the contrary. Nor is the term, in modern use, especially associated with French Canadians; again, quite the contrary.

  • 1849  "Come boys and have some grog, I'm what you call a Canuck; a Canadian."
  • 1861  I must add that it is somewhat supported . . . by the analogy of another term, namely Canuc, which is used vulgarly and rather contemptuously for Canadian, and which seems to me to come from Canuchsa, the word employed by the Iroquois to denote a "hut." Here Canadian would mean a "townsman" or "villager," but a canuc would be only a "hutter."
  • 1907  "And don't you want to be Americans any longer?" I asked. "No," said they most emphatically, "we're Canucks now."
  • 1963  What is the origin of the nickname Jack Canuck? It probably comes from the name Connaught, the nickname given more than 100 years ago by French Canadians to Canadians of Irish origin.
  • 1964  The Scottish skip missed a wide open takeout in the fifth leaving the Canucks another single.

• 2 † n. Slang a French-Canadian.

  • 1889  But for pure and unadulterated brag I will back the lower class Canuck against the world.
  • 1900  I would very much like to know the origin of the expression Canuck applied to the French Canadians.
  • 1912  (1913)  On the face of the swarthy Canuck guide who sat in the stern there was a weary contempt.

• 3 n. Rare a thing made in, or native to, Canada.

  • 1887  
    "Who'll buy my caller herrin'?
    Cod, turbot, ling, delicious herrin',
    Buy my caller herrin',
    They're every one Kanucks!"