Batteau

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of shallow-draft vessel designed for navigating rivers and lakes while being lightweight and often propelled by oars or an engine
2. A small, flat-bottomed watercraft intended for easy maneuvering in inland waterways and often used for transport or recreation
3. A small, flat-bottomed boat built for use on shallow rivers and lakes with easy handling and lightweight design

Etymology: The word is an older spelling of "bateau," the French word for boat, which English took directly from French. The form with the double "t" reflects the way the word was written in English during the period when French loanwords were still being adapted to English spelling habits, and it survives mainly in American usage for a particular kind of river craft. That American association is the key to the word's later life. Flat-bottomed boats of this sort were used for carrying goods and passengers on shallow inland waterways, and the French name stuck to them in North America, where French settlers and traders had worked the rivers before English-speaking colonists arrived. The name thus carried a French vocabulary item into the everyday speech of a different language's territory. Because the meaning is so concrete, the word stayed close to its physical origin. The boat it names is defined by its shape and purpose, a shallow hull built to float over water too thin for a deeper keel, rather than by any abstract sense that the French word may have carried.

Synonyms: boat, craft

Antonyms: land