cancan en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈkanˌkan/ (India, Received-Pronunciation, Scotland)
- (Southern-England) audio
- kăn′kăn′
- /ˈkænˌkæn/ (Australia, Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˈkɛnˌkɛn/ (New-Zealand)
Etymology
Borrowed from French cancan.
Meanings
-
A high-kicking chorus line dance originating in France.
They formed up, in perfect silence, in two lines, facing each other between us and the fire, and then the dance - a sort of infernal and fiendish cancan - began.
1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
- (broadly) A high-kicking chorus line dance originating in France. ▸ "Galop Infernal", a movement from Jacques Offenbach's opera Orpheus in the Underworld, commonly associated with and called the cancan.
- A trick where one leg is brought over the seat, so that both legs are on one side.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| cancans | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| can-can | alternative | lexicographic |
Translations (15)
pt cancã (dance) · ja カンカン (dance) · pl kankan (dance) · hy կանկան (dance) · cmn 康康舞 (dance) · fr cancan (dance) · cs kankán (dance) · fi cancan (dance) · de Cancan (dance) · hu kánkán (dance) · ka კანკანი (dance) · tr kankan (dance) · ja フレンチカンカン (dance) · ru канка́н (dance) · sv cancan (dance)