canteen

canteen — noun

1. a large room inside a workplace, school, or factory where hot and cold meals, sn

1.nounB1
Definition

a large room inside a workplace, school, or factory where hot and cold meals, snacks, and drinks are offered for sale, usually for less money than in ordinary restaurants

Example

The school canteen serves rice, noodles, and soup every day at lunch.

collocation: school canteen / serves meals

Leila always buys a cheap sandwich from the office canteen instead of going out.

Common collocations
  • school canteen
  • office canteen
  • factory canteen
  • hospital canteen
  • canteen food
  • canteen prices
  • canteen queue
  • canteen staff
Synonyms
  • cafeteria

    more common in American English; often implies self-service in an institutional setting

  • dining hall

    more formal; often used for large institutional spaces like college dormitories

  • mess hall

    military context only; refers to a place where soldiers eat together

Usage Note

Common in British English to refer to a workplace or school cafeteria. In American English, 'cafeteria' or 'lunchroom' is more frequent.

Common Mistakes

Let's meet at the new canteen on Main Street for dinner.
Let's meet at the new restaurant on Main Street for dinner.
A 'canteen' is an institutional cafeteria (inside a school, office, or factory), not any eating place that serves food.

2. a place on a military base where soldiers gather to buy drinks, chat with each o

2.nounB2
Definition

a place on a military base where soldiers gather to buy drinks, chat with each other, and pick up simple food — a relaxed hangout for armed forces personnel

Example

After training, the soldiers went to the canteen for a cold drink.

domain: military / collocation: soldiers + canteen

The army canteen had a few tables where off-duty officers could play cards.

Common collocations
  • army canteen
  • base canteen
  • off-duty canteen
  • canteen bar
  • NAAFI canteen
Synonyms
  • mess

    military term for a dining area or social club for service members

  • PX

    American military abbreviation for Post Exchange; a store that sells goods to soldiers and their families

Usage Note

This sense is primarily British military vocabulary. In American English, 'PX' (Post Exchange) or 'mess' is more commonly used for the same type of facility.

3. a small shop inside a military camp, school, or large office building that sells

3.nounB2
Definition

a small shop inside a military camp, school, or large office building that sells drinks, packaged snacks, and everyday items such as soap or notebooks

Example

Ravi bought a bottle of water and a chocolate bar from the camp canteen.

collocation: camp canteen + everyday items

The school canteen sells stationery and small toys alongside its usual snacks.

Common collocations
  • camp canteen
  • school canteen shop
  • canteen counter
  • buy from the canteen
Synonyms
  • tuck shop

    British term for a small shop selling sweets and snacks, typically in a school

  • convenience store

    broader term for a small shop selling everyday items, not limited to institutional settings

Usage Note

This sense overlaps with sense 1 (cafeteria) but emphasises the retail-shop aspect rather than a full dining area. The shop is usually a counter or small room, not a place to sit and eat a full meal.

4. a small metal or plastic container for carrying drinking water or another liquid

4.nounB1
Definition

a small metal or plastic container for carrying drinking water or another liquid, traditionally used by soldiers, campers, or hikers

Example

Each soldier carried a full canteen on their belt during the long march.

collocation: carry a canteen / on one's belt

Noa filled his canteen with water from the stream before continuing the hike.

Common collocations
  • army canteen
  • tin canteen
  • fill a canteen
  • canteen belt
  • canteen cover
  • canteen of water
  • soldier's canteen
  • hiker's canteen
Synonyms
  • water bottle

    the common everyday term for a portable container for drinking water

  • flask

    can refer to a canteen-like container but more often means a narrow-necked bottle or a hip flask for alcohol

  • hip flask

    small flat bottle carried in a pocket, usually for alcoholic drinks

Usage Note

Unlike a 'water bottle', a canteen is traditionally wider and flatter, designed to be strapped to a belt or pack. The word is less frequently used today for everyday plastic water bottles.

Common Mistakes

I brought my canteen to the office.
I brought my water bottle to the office.
'Canteen' for a water container sounds old-fashioned or military; 'water bottle' is the everyday term.

5. a small flat box or case designed to store eating utensils such as forks, knives

5.nounC1
Definition

a small flat box or case designed to store eating utensils such as forks, knives, and spoons in an organised way, often used while travelling or camping

Example

Grandmother's silver canteen contains twelve place settings of cutlery.

collocation: silver canteen / place settings of cutlery

Kofi packed the canteen of stainless-steel cutlery for the family camping trip.

Common collocations
  • canteen of cutlery
  • silver canteen
  • stainless-steel canteen
  • leather canteen
  • canteen box
  • canteen case
Synonyms
  • cutlery box

    everyday term for a box that stores knives, forks, and spoons

  • flatware chest

    American term for a lined storage box for silverware

Usage Note

This sense is relatively rare and formal. Most English speakers would say 'cutlery box' or 'flatware chest' in everyday conversation. 'Canteen of cutlery' is a fixed phrase in British English, especially when referring to a silverware set.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

'Canteen', 'cafeteria', 'dining hall', and 'mess hall' all refer to places where groups of people eat, but they differ in setting and formality. 'Canteen' is the most common word in British English for the self-service restaurant inside a workplace, school, or factory. 'Cafeteria' is its American English equivalent and is also understood worldwide, though it tends to sound slightly more neutral. 'Dining hall' is typically larger and more formal — think of a grand hall at a university college where students sit at long tables for set meal times. 'Mess hall' is restricted to military contexts: it is the place where soldiers eat together, often in a large, utilitarian space. In everyday use, a British office worker eats in the 'canteen', an American student eats in the 'cafeteria', a Cambridge college student eats in the 'dining hall', and a soldier eats in the 'mess hall'. Mixing these up — for example, calling a military eating area a 'cafeteria' — can sound odd to native speakers.

cafeteria ↗dining hallmess hallcanteen ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • canteen food
  • canteen prices
  • canteen staff
  • canteen queue
  • canteen table
  • canteen menu
  • canteen tray
  • canteen lunch

Phrases

  • eat in the canteen
  • work in the canteen
  • buy from the canteen
  • queue at the canteen
  • canteen of cutlery

Prepositions

  • in the canteen
  • at the canteen
  • from the canteen
  • to the canteen

Etymology

ItalianFrenchEnglish

The word 'canteen' entered English in the early 1700s from French 'cantine', which itself came from Italian 'cantina' — a word meaning a cellar or a wine shop. The original sense in English was a container for carrying liquids (what we now call sense 4). Over the 1800s, the word broadened to mean the small shop that sold provisions to soldiers (sense 3), and later the eating area inside institutions (senses 1 and 2). The cutlery-case sense (sense 5) developed separately in the 1800s, probably from the idea of a 'case' or 'box' that stores things in an organised way, drawing on the same Italian root.