CANON
What does "CANON" mean?
A body of works, rules, or principles accepted as authoritative or genuine.
Meanings
- The collection of works, texts, or facts officially accepted as genuine or important within a field, religion, or fictional world. Fans argued over whether the spin-off counted as canon.
- A general rule, principle, or standard of judgment. The decision broke every canon of fair play. formal
- A musical form in which a melody is imitated by overlapping voices entering in turn. Pachelbel's piece is built as a canon over a repeating bass line. technical
- A clergyman belonging to the staff of a cathedral. She was appointed a canon of the cathedral. formal
Did you know?
- Before it meant sacred texts or accepted rules, 'canon' meant a literal straight measuring rod in Greek - the idea of a 'standard' grew from a tool you measured things against.
Word origin
From Greek 'kanon' ('measuring rod, rule, standard'), via Latin 'canon'; the word for a straight rod came to mean a fixed standard, then the authorized body of texts. Note the single 'n' distinguishes it from 'cannon', the weapon.
Remember it
CANON has one N (a rule you can rely oN); CANNON has two N's for its double barrels of NoiNe. The rule is thin; the weapon is loud.
A little poem
Who decides which voices last,
which names the long shelf keeps-
and who is quietly shelved?
tercet
Wordplay
- The literature professor and the artillery officer both swore by the canon - only one of them spelled it with two N's.
What it teaches
Every canon is a choice someone made about what to remember - and what to leave out.
Quick facts
What does CANON mean?
A body of works, rules, or principles accepted as authoritative or genuine.
Is CANON a valid word?
Yes — CANON is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is CANON?
CANON has 5 letters and 2 syllables.
Where does CANON come from?
From Greek 'kanon' ('measuring rod, rule, standard'), via Latin 'canon'; the word for a straight rod came to mean a fixed standard, then the authorized body of texts. Note the single 'n' distinguishes it from 'cannon', the weapon.
What can CANON teach us?
Every canon is a choice someone made about what to remember - and what to leave out.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.