canard
/kəˈnɑɹd/noun
canard is spelled C-A-N-A-R-D: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 57,423rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, canard means “A false or misleading report or story, especially if deliberately so” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of canard is canards.
How many letters and syllables are in canard?
| Letters | 6: C-A-N-A-R-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 57,423rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is canard?
Canard appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 57,423rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce canard?
- US /kəˈnɑɹd/
- UK /kəˈnɑːd/
Canard has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-canard.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with canard?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as canard from its last stressed vowel (/ɑɹd/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of canard
- canards plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does canard mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A false or misleading report or story, especially if deliberately so.
- 2
A type of aircraft in which the primary horizontal control and stabilization surfaces are in front of the main wing.
- 3
A horizontal control and stabilization surface located in front of the main wing of an aircraft.
- 4
Any small winglike structure on a vehicle, usually used for stabilization.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Canard in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | canard , avion-canard , aileron, plan canard, moustache |
| German | Zeitungsente, Ente , Canard, Entenflugzeug, Entenflügler |
| Portuguese | atoarda , canard |
| Spanish | bulo, filfa, infundio , canard |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does canard come from?
Borrowed from French canard (“duck, hoax”). etymology note The primary English meaning of canard comes from the Medieval French expression “vendre un canard à moitié”, which literally means “to sell half a duck” or “to half-sell a duck”. This was perhaps the punch line to a joke. Eventually the punch line came to stand for the joke and then finally the word alone stood for the whole concept. The story may perhaps have gone like this: A duck seller is successful and content as the only duck seller on a street, selling his ducks for eight francs each.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).