cannoneer
can·non·eer/ˌkænəˈnɪ(ə)ɹ/noun
cannoneer is a noun meaning “An artillery soldier who maintains and operates (historical) a cannon, or (now) some other piece of heavy artillery” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled C-A-N-N-O-N-E-E-R and has 3 syllables (can·non·eer), and it appears about once in every 37 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of cannoneer is cannoneers.
What does cannoneer mean?
noun
- 1
An artillery soldier who maintains and operates (historical) a cannon, or (now) some other piece of heavy artillery.
Luckily, the cannoneer was only mildly injured when his cannon malfunctioned.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce cannoneer?
- UK /kænəˈnɪə/
- US /ˌkænəˈnɪ(ə)ɹ/
Cannoneer has 3 syllables, split can·non·eer in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-cannoneer.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-cannoneer.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of cannoneer
- cannoneers plural
- cannonier
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is cannoneer?
Cannoneer appears about once in every 37 million words in written English, the 187,122nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Cannoneer in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense artillery soldier who maintains and operates a cannon, or some other piece of he:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | canonnier, cannonière |
| German | Kanonier |
| Portuguese | artilheiro |
| Spanish | artillero, cañonero |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does cannoneer come from?
Borrowed from French canonnier, with the ending reshaped to English -eer (suffix forming agent nouns denoting people associated with, concerned with, or engaged in specified activities). Canonnier is derived from Middle French cannonier, canonnier, from canon (“cannon”) (from cane (from Old French cane (“tube”), from Latin canna (“cane; reed; something resembling a cane”), from Ancient Greek κᾰ́ννᾰ (kắnnă, “giant reed (Arundo donax)”), from Akkadian 𒂵𒉡𒌑𒌝 (qanûm, “reed”)) + -on (augmentative suffix)) + -ier (suffix denoting a profession). By surface analysis, cannon + -eer.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).