canal
Spanish, noun
canal is spelled C-A-N-A-L (5 letters) and appears 89 times per million words in written Spanish, the 987th most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Canal is a Spanish masculine noun meaning “canal, flume, waterway (artificial)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a tilde, cañal is a different word: “small channel (for fish to pass)”. The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Depresión artificial cóncava y alargada en el terreno, para hacer fluir agua u otro líquido en ella”.
What does canal mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinecanal, flume, waterway (artificial)
- 2
masculinechannel (wide strait)
- 3
masculinechannel
- 4
masculinechannel
- 5
masculinecleavage
noun
- 1
masculinesmall channel (for fish to pass)
- 2
masculinesmall gate made of reeds
- 3
masculinereedbed
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Depresión artificial cóncava y alargada en el terreno, para hacer fluir agua u otro líquido en ella. 2. Por analogía, parte de la boca de un puerto con mayor profundidad navegable. 3. Por analogía, pasaje estrecho y de mayor profundidad en una zona navegable. 4. Canal₁ de gran tamaño, labrado para unir dos cuerpos de agua.
The definition in the Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), in Spanish.
Source: Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of canal
- canales plural
- cañales plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to canal
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is canal in Spanish?
canal appears 89 times per million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).