canton
/ˈkæntən/noun, verb
canton is spelled C-A-N-T-O-N: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 13,897th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Canton, the name). As a noun, canton means “A division of a political unit” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of canton is cantons.
How many letters and syllables are in canton?
| Letters | 6: C-A-N-T-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.5 times per million words; the 13,897th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is canton?
Canton appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 13,897th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Canton, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce canton?
- /ˈkæntən/
- /ˈkæntɒn/
Canton 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-canton.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with canton?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as canton.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: cannot.
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 canton
- cantons plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- kanton
- cantoning participle, present
- cantoned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does canton mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A division of a political unit.
These three millions live in a small canton of Egypt which cannot maintain twenty thousand people
- 2
One of the states comprising the Swiss Confederation.
- 3
An administrative division within a department in France, often being a subdivision of an arrondissement.
- 4
A division of Luxembourg, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.
- 5
obsoleteA subdivision of a county, of Quebec, Canada; equivalent to a township.
- 6
A small community or clan.
- 7
A subdivision of a flag, the rectangular inset on the upper hoist (i.e., flagpole) side, the upper-left quadrant of a flag, (the stars of the US national flag are in a canton).
- 8
A division of a shield occupying one third of the chief, usually on the dexter side, formed by a perpendicular line from the top meeting a horizontal line from the side.
- 9
obsoleteA song or canto.
verb
- 1
To delineate as a separate district.
- 2
To divide into cantons.
- 3
To quarter troops by requisitioning housing from the civilian population.
To the end of husbanding the supplies, he will cause to be cantoned in the cities and villages the greatest possible numbers of troops
- 4
To be allotted such quarters.
An army, falling back upon its lines of magazines, may … make its retreat with more security than one which has to canton, to subsist, and to extend itself to find cantonments.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Canton 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 canton come from?
1530s, from Middle French canton, from Old French canton (“corner”); heraldic sense from the 1570s, geographic sense from c. 1600.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).