canister
/ˈkænɪstɚ/noun, verb
canister is spelled C-A-N-I-S-T-E-R. The wrong spelling people search most is cannister: about 380 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Canister is a noun meaning “A cylindrical or rectangular container usually of lightweight metal, plastic, or laminated pasteboard used…”. The plural of canister is canisters.
How many letters and syllables are in canister?
| Letters | 8: C-A-N-I-S-T-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 25,751st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, cannister, about 380 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Same letters |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell canister?
Canister is spelled C-A-N-I-S-T-E-R. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for canister in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is canister?
Canister appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 25,751st 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 canister?
- US /ˈkænɪstɚ/
Canister 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-canister.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with canister?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as canister (/ænɪstəɹ/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: cisterna.
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 canister
- canisters plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- canistering participle, present
- canistered participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does canister mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A cylindrical or rectangular container usually of lightweight metal, plastic, or laminated pasteboard used for holding a dry product (as tea, crackers, flour, matches).
- 2
Any of various cylindrical metal receptacles usually with a removable close-fitting top.
- 3
A special short-range antipersonnel projectile consisting of a casing of light metal, loaded with preformed submissiles such as flechettes or steel balls. The casing is designed to open just beyond the muzzle of the weapon, dispersing the submissiles.
- 4
A projectile component containing colored or screening smoke or riot control agent composition.
- 5
A component of canister-type protective masks containing a mechanical filter and chemical filling to filter, neutralize and/or absorb toxic chemical, biological and radiological agents.
- 6
Part of a windmill that connects the sails to the windshaft.
- 7
archaicslangA person's head.
verb
- 1
To pack into a canister.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Canister in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 canister come from?
From Middle English canustyr (“basket”), a borrowing from Latin canistrum. Doublet of canaster and knaster.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).