# cannon

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈkæn.ən/ · frequency rank #6,878

## Definitions
1. A complete assembly, consisting of an artillery tube and a breech mechanism, firing mechanism or base cap, which is a component of a gun, howitzer or mortar, which may include muzzle appendages.
2. Any similar device for shooting material out of a tube.
3. Any similar device for shooting material out of a tube.
4. A bone of a horse’s leg, between the fetlock joint and the knee or hock.
5. A rolled and filleted loin of meat.
6. A cannon bit.
7. A large muzzle-loading artillery piece.
8. A carom.
9. The arm of a player who can throw well.
10. A hollow cylindrical piece carried by a revolving shaft, on which it may, however, revolve independently.
11. A cylindrical item of plate armor protecting the arm, particularly one of a pair of such cylinders worn with a couter, the upper cannon protecting the upper arm and the lower cannon protecting the forearm.
12. Alternative form of canon (“a large size of type”).
13. A piece which moves horizontally and vertically like a rook but captures another piece by jumping over a different piece in the line of attack.
14. A pickpocket.

## Etymology
Attested from around 1400 as Middle English canon, canoun, from Old French canon, from Italian cannone, from Latin canna, from Ancient Greek κάννα (kánna, “reed”), from Akkadian 𒄀 (qanû, “reed”), from Sumerian 𒄀𒈾 (gi.na). Doublet of canyon. This spelling was not fixed until about 1800.

## Easily confused with
- **canon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cannon-vs-canon)
- **canoe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cannon-vs-canoe)
- **canny** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cannon-vs-canny)
- **canto** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cannon-vs-canto)
- **caron** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cannon-vs-caron)
- **cannot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cannon-vs-cannot)
- **carbon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cannon-vs-carbon)
- **canyon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cannon-vs-canyon)
- **Carson** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cannon-vs-carson)
- **Connor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cannon-vs-connor)
- **canton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cannon-vs-canton)
- **carton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cannon-vs-carton)
- **cantor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cannon-vs-cantor)
- **cation** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cannon-vs-cation)
- **Condon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cannon-vs-condon)
- **Conlon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cannon-vs-conlon)
- **canned** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/canned-vs-cannon)
- **Cannes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cannes-vs-cannon)
- **Canaan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/canaan-vs-cannon)
- **candor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/candor-vs-cannon)

## Common misspellings (5)
`acnnon`, `cannno`, `cannonn`, `ccannon`, `cnanon`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/cannon