Skip to main content
PlainSpell

canary

UK /kəˈnɛəɹi/noun, adjective, verb

canary is spelled C-A-N-A-R-Y: 6 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,228th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, canary means “A small, usually yellow, finch (genus Serinus), a songbird native to the Canary Islands” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of canary is canaries.

How many letters and syllables are in canary?

Letters6: C-A-N-A-R-Y
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.8 times per million words; the 16,228th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 canary?

Canary appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,228th 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 canary?

  • UK /kəˈnɛəɹi/
  • British /kəˈnɛːɹɪj/
  • /kəˈnɛəɹi/

Canary has 3 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-canary.ogg, EN-AU_ck1_canary.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with canary?

6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as canary from its last stressed vowel (/ɛəɹi/):

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 canary

  • canaries plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • more canary comparative
  • most canary superlative
  • canarying participle, present
  • canaried participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does canary mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A small, usually yellow, finch (genus Serinus), a songbird native to the Canary Islands.

  2. 2

    Any of various small birds of different countries, most of which are largely yellow in colour.

  3. 3

    informalA female singer, soprano, a coloratura singer.

  4. 4

    slangAn informer or snitch; a squealer.

  5. 5

    A light, slightly greenish, yellow colour.

  6. 6

    slangA (usually yellow) capsule of the short-acting barbiturate pentobarbital/pentobarbitone (nembutal).

  7. 7

    AustraliainformalA yellow sticker applied by the police to a vehicle to indicate it is unroadworthy.

  8. 8

    Any test subject, especially an inadvertent or unwilling one. (From the mining practice of using canaries to detect dangerous gases.)

adjective

  1. 1

    Of a light yellow colour.

verb

  1. 1

    To dance nimbly (as in the canary dance).

  2. 2

    slangTo inform or snitch, to betray secrets, especially about illegal activities.

  3. 3

    To test a software change by rolling out to a small set of machines or users before making it available to all.

noun

as Canary
  1. 1

    Someone connected with Norwich City Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.

adjective

as Canary
  1. 1

    That can be exercised on quarterly dates, a set time period (usually one year) after the issue date, and before the expiry date.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Canary in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcanari (bird from the Canary Islands), jaune canari (colour)
GermanKanarienvogel (bird from the Canary Islands), Kanariengelb (colour), kanariengelb (of a light yellow colour)
Portuguesecanário (bird from the Canary Islands), amarelo-canário (colour)
Spanishcanario (bird from the Canary Islands)

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 canary come from?

From French canarie, from Spanish canario, from the Latin Canariae insulae (“Canary Islands”) (Spanish Islas Canarias); from the largest island Insula Canaria (“Dog Island" or "Canine Island”), named for its dogs, from canārius (“canine”), from canis (“dog”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after canary