canal

UK: /kəˈnæl/ US: /kəˈnæl/ ,(kə nal′)

Inflections of 'canal' (v): (⇒ conjugate)

When both "l" and "ll" forms exist, spellings with a double "l" are correct, but rare, in US English, while those with a single "l" are not correct in UK English.

canals

v 3rd person singular

canalling

v pres p (Mainly UK)

canaling

v pres p (US)

canalled

v past (Mainly UK)

canaled

v past (US)

canalled

v past p (Mainly UK)

canaled

v past p (US)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

ca•nal /kəˈnæl/   n. 

1. Civil Engineering, Nautical, Naval Terms an artificial waterway dug through land, for navigation, etc.:
   [countable] the Panama Canal.
   [uncountable] They traveled down by canal.
2. Biology a tube or tube-shaped passage in the body for food, etc.;
   duct:
   [countable] the alimentary canal in humans.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

ca•nal  (kə nal′), n., v., -nalled or -naled, -nal•ling or -nal•ing. 
n. 

1. Civil Engineering, Nautical, Naval Terms an artificial waterway for navigation, irrigation, etc.
2. a long narrow arm of the sea penetrating far inland.
3. Biology a tubular passage or cavity for food, air, etc., esp. in an animal or plant;
   a duct.
4. channel;
   watercourse.
5. Astronomy one of the long, narrow, dark lines on the surface of the planet Mars, as seen telescopically from the earth.

v.t. 

6. Nautical, Naval Terms to make a canal through.

• Latin canālis, perh. equivalent. to can(na) reed, pipe (see cane) + -ālis -al¹; def. 5 a mistranslation of Italian canali channels, term used by German. V. Schiaparelli
• late Middle English: waterpipe, tubular passage 1400–50

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

canal / kəˈnæl/ noun

1. an artificial waterway constructed for navigation, irrigation, water power, etc
2. any of various tubular passages or ducts: the alimentary canal
3. any of various elongated intercellular spaces in plants
4. any of the indistinct surface features of Mars originally thought to be a network of channels but not seen on close-range photographs. They are caused by an optical illusion in which faint geological features appear to have a geometric structure

verb ( -nals, -nalling, -nalled) ( -nals, -naling, -naled)(transitive)

1. to dig a canal through
2. to provide with a canal or canals

Etymology: 15th Century (in the sense: pipe, tube): from Latin canālis channel, water pipe, from canna reed, cane¹