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canon

/ˈkæn.ən/noun, adjective

canon is spelled C-A-N-O-N: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,957th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “cannon vs canon” about 4,400 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, canon means “A generally accepted principle; a rule” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of canon is canons or cañons.

How many letters and syllables are in canon?

Letters5: C-A-N-O-N
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing13 times per million words; the 5,957th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
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 common is canon?

Canon appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,957th 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 canon?

  • /ˈkæn.ən/

Canon 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-canon.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with canon

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

cannon vs canon4,400 G
canon vs canyon0 B

Sounds like: cannon (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: cannon, canyon.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with canon?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as canon.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: ancon.

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 canon

  • canons plural
  • more canon comparative
  • most canon superlative
  • cañons plural
  • cañones plural
  • cañóns plural

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

What does canon mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A generally accepted principle; a rule.

    The trial must proceed according to the canons of law.

  2. 2

    A formally codified set of criteria deemed mandatory for a particular artistic style of figurative art.

    the Canon of Polykleitos

  3. 3

    A group of literary works that are generally accepted as representing a field.

  4. 4

    The works of a writer that have been accepted as authentic.

    the entire Shakespearean canon

  5. 5

    A eucharistic prayer, particularly the Roman Canon.

  6. 6

    A religious law or body of law decreed by the church.

    We must proceed according to canon law.

  7. 7

    A catalogue of saints acknowledged and canonized in the Roman Catholic Church.

  8. 8

    In monasteries, a book containing the rules of a religious order.

  9. 9

    A type of clergymember serving a cathedral or collegiate church.

  10. 10

    A canon regular, a member of any of several Roman Catholic religious orders.

  11. 11

    Alternative spelling of qanun.

  12. 12

    obsoleteAlternative spelling of cannon (“weapon”).

  13. 13

    Alternative spelling of cannon (“a carom in billiards”).

noun

as cañon
  1. 1

    Alternative spelling of canyon.

noun

as cañón
  1. 1

    Alternative form of canyon.

noun

as Canon
  1. 1

    Alternative letter-case form of canon: a member of a chapter.

  2. 2

    Title for a canon.

    Canon Smith is our new parish priest.

adjective

  1. 1

    slangClipping of canonical.

    The franchise's book spinoff is usually not considered canon.

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

Canon in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcanon (group of literary works accepted as…), gros-canon (printing: 48-point type), anses (part of a bell by which it is suspended), chanoine (A clergy member serving a cathedral)
Portuguesecânone (group of literary works accepted as…), cónego, cônego (A clergy member serving a cathedral)
Spanishcanon (group of literary works accepted as…), canónigo (A clergy member serving a cathedral)
GermanMissal (printing: 48-point type), Chorherr, Kanoniker, Kanonikus, Stiftsherr (A clergy member serving a cathedral), Kanon (religious law)

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 canon come from?

From Middle English canoun, from Old French canon and Old English canon, both from Latin canōn, from Ancient Greek κανών (kanṓn, “measuring rod, standard”), akin to κάννα (kánna, “reed”), from Semitic (compare Hebrew קָנֶה (qane, “reed”) and Arabic قَنَاة (qanāh, “reed”)). Doublet of qanun. See also cane, cannon, canyon, canal.

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

What to look up after canon