Welcome to DCHP-3

This is the third edition of the 1967 A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles (DCHP-1). DCHP-3 integrates the legacy data of DCHP-1 (1967) and the updated data of DCHP-2 (2017) with new content to form DCHP-3. There are 136 new and updated entries in this edition for a new total of 12,045 headwords with 14,586 meanings.

DCHP-3 lists, as did its predecessors, Canadianisms. A Canadianism is defined as

a word, expression, or meaning which is native to Canada or which is distinctively characteristic of Canadian usage though not necessarily exclusive to Canada. (Walter S. Avis in DCHP-1, page xiii; see DCHP-1 Online)

We recognize six types of Canadianisms (see the How-to section, A Typology of Canadianisms). Some meanings that are not Canadian are included for context and are marked with a dagger (†). A few entries are included that we or others originally thought were Canadianisms, but our research proved otherwise. We include these entries to save others the trouble of checking again; they are marked by a red background. DCHP-1 legacy content is presented on yellow; DCHP-2 and DCHP-3 content on white background with edition labels in the top right corner.

This work should be cited as:

Dollinger, Stefan and Margery Fee (eds). 2025. DCHP-3: The Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, Third Edition. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia, www.dchp.ca/dchp3.

Supported by the Social Science and Humanities Council of Canada Grant # 435-2022-0921.