September 01, 2009
- canyon (noun)
- \KAN-yun\
- What does it mean?
- : a deep narrow valley with steep sides and often with a stream flowing through it
- How do you use it?
- Lora had always wanted to fly over a canyon and this summer her grandparents treated her to a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
- Are you a word wiz?
Canyons can be found all over the world, but in which language do you think our word "canyon" originated?
Muy bien if you chose C! English speakers in the early 1800s began using the American Spanish word "caņon," which developed into "canyon." Word scholars speculate that "canon" is an alteration of an obsolete Spanish word, "callon." "Callon" comes from the Spanish word "calle," meaning "street," and it traces to the Latin "callis," meaning "footpath." "Arroyo" is another word from Spanish for a smaller type of water-carved channel. In fact, English has several words for similar natural formations of various sizes, among them "valley," "gulch," "gully," and "ravine."
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