# Canada

Pronunciation: say "KA-nuh-duh" /ˈkænədə/

## Proper noun

1. A country occupying much of northern North America, with Ottawa as its capital and Toronto as its largest city.
   - Simple: A large country in North America, north of the United States, with Ottawa as its capital.
   - _Canada and the United States share the longest international border in the world._
   - _Ottawa serves as the capital of Canada, though Toronto is far larger._
2. Either Lower Canada (1791–1841, later Canada East, now Quebec) or Upper Canada (1791–1841, later Canada West, now Ontario), the two together often called "the Canadas."
   - Simple: Either of two British colonies (Lower Canada, now Quebec, and Upper Canada, now Ontario) that existed from 1791 to 1841.
3. The most active province of New France from 1608 to 1763, covering much of present-day Quebec and Ontario and several adjacent US states.
   - Simple: A region of New France between 1608 and 1763, covering parts of what are now Quebec, Ontario, and nearby US states.
   - _Until Britain took control in 1763, the province of Canada was the heart of New France along the Saint Lawrence._
   - _Missionaries set out from Canada toward the Great Lakes in the 1640s._

## Noun

4. A country bordering a much larger one that it strongly resembles but is overshadowed by its more prominent neighbor. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: A country sitting next to a much bigger neighbor that it is very like but always stays in its shadow.
   - _Critics joke that the small republic has become a Canada to its powerful southern neighbor._
   - _To many observers, it plays the part of a contented Canada beside a louder, bigger nation._

## Origin

Borrowed from French Canada, which came from the Laurentian word kanata meaning "village" or "settlement" (compare the Onondaga gana꞉dá꞉yęʼ), ultimately from Proto-North Iroquoian *-nat-.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/canada (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).