🥤 Ever wondered why it’s called a “canteen”?
Here’s a tiny word with a BIG travel story.
Imagine you’re a soldier centuries ago.
You don’t have Zomato.
You don’t have a kitchen.
You have one lifeline:
A small bottle hanging at your side — for water (or sometimes wine).
That bottle was your canteen.
The word entered English through French “cantine”, which meant a container—especially the kind used by soldiers for carrying drinks and supplies.
But the story goes even further back…
French got it from Italian “cantina”, meaning a cellar—a place where food and wine were stored. 🍷
So at its heart, “canteen” has always been about one idea:
✅ stored food + stored drink.
Over time, something interesting happened:
If the canteen is where soldiers keep their drinks…
then naturally the word also started meaning the place where food and drink are served.
And that’s how we moved from:
🥤 canteen = bottle
to
🍛 canteen = eating place
So next time you’re standing in the school or office canteen…
Remember: you’re not just buying snacks.
You’re using a word that started as a soldier’s survival bottle.