kan
/kɑːn/noun
kan is spelled K-A-N: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 17,813th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Kan, the name). As a noun, kan means “A Japanese unit of weight, approximately 3.75 kg or 8.267 lb” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of kan is kans.
How many letters and syllables are in kan?
| Letters | 3: K-A-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.3 times per million words; the 17,813th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like |
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).
How common is kan?
Kan appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 17,813th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Kan, 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 kan?
- /kɑːn/
Kan has one syllable (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-khan.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with kan
Sounds like: carn, khan (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: khan.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of kan
- kans plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does kan mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A Japanese unit of weight, approximately 3.75 kg or 8.267 lb.
- 2
A catty, legally defined as 0.60478982 kilograms.
- 3
A set of four identical tiles.
- 4
A call declaring the formation of such a set.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does kan come from?
Borrowed from Japanese 貫 (kan).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).