A (plural ) was the Latin term for a hut or hovel and was later (from the time of Hadrian) used typically to mean a town that emerged as a civilian settlement () in the vicinity of a Roman legionary fortress ().
A settlement that grew up outside a smaller Roman fort was called a (village, plural ). were also often divided into .
Permanent forts attracted military dependants and civilian contractors who serviced the base and needed housing; traders, artisans, sellers of food and drink, prostitutes, and also unofficial wives of soldiers and their children and hence most forts had or . Many of these communities became towns through synoecism with other communities, some in use today.
Some Canabae of Legionary Fortresses: