Learn GreekB2 › κανόνι

κανόνι

cannon /kaˈno.ni/

nounB2#2442 most common

Also: artillery piece, gun (large caliber)

Example sentences

Το κανόνι είναι μεγάλο.
The cannon is big.
Ο στρατιώτης καθαρίζει το κανόνι.
The soldier cleans the cannon.
Το κάστρο είχε πολλά κανόνια στα τείχη του.
The castle had many cannons on its walls.
Άκουσαν τον ήχο του κανονιού από μακριά.
They heard the sound of the cannon from afar.
Τα κανόνια βροντούσαν όλη νύχτα κατά τη διάρκεια της πολιορκίας.
The cannons roared all night during the siege.
Το πλοίο ήταν εξοπλισμένο με κανόνια ικανά να βυθίσουν εχθρικά σκάφη από απόσταση.
The ship was equipped with cannons able to sink enemy vessels from a distance.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominativeτο κανόνιτα κανόνια
Genitiveτου κανονιούτων κανονιών
Accusativeτο κανόνιτα κανόνια
Vocativeκανόνικανόνια

Word family

κανονιάa cannon shot; colloquially, a powerful hit or shot (e.g. in football)
κανονιέραgunboat
κανονιοφόροςa vessel armed with cannons
κανονιοβολώto shell, to bombard with cannon fire
κανονιοστοιχίαa battery of cannons

Etymology

Κανόνι entered Greek from Italian or Venetian cannone, the same source as English cannon. Italian cannone is an augmentative of canna, meaning reed or tube, so the original sense was a big tube. Greek speakers then attached the native neuter ending -ι, which normally marks small things, to a word that in Italian marked something large. The word spread through the Greek-speaking world during centuries of Venetian and Ottoman-era contact and naval warfare.

Learn Greek the way that sticks.
Every word here is a full Polylex card with native audio and spaced repetition, so 3,509 words actually move into long-term memory.
Start free

More Greek words

πηδιέμαιto sleep with someone (slang, passive/reciprocal of "to jump")κατάστρωμαdeck (of a ship)στενόςnarrowσπόροςseedαυτοπεποίθησηself-confidenceφιλμfilm (movie, or photographic film)θλιβερόςsad, distressingαπαντάωto answer, to reply