Cannon and Canon Differ by One N and Everything Else
A cannon is a large gun. A canon is a rule, a body of works or a clergyman, and the spellings are worth keeping apart.
A cannon is a large mounted gun. Its near-twin *canon*, with one N, means a rule, an accepted body of works, or a cathedral clergyman. The two come from the same Greek word *kanon*, a rod: the gun from the sense of a tube, the rule from the sense of a measuring rod used as a standard.
- A large gun. *A ship's cannon.*
- To collide. *The car cannoned into the wall.*
- Canon — a rule or accepted body of work. *The literary canon.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | cannon | A bronze cannon. |
| Plural | cannon / cannons | Twelve cannon. |
| Verb | cannon | Cannoned off the post. |
| Homophone | canon | Canon law. |
| Related | cannonball | A cannonball. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The cannon were captured.The plural can be unchanged.
- Canon law governs the church.Different word.
- That is not canon.Fan usage: not part of the accepted story.
The two words compared
- Cannon — a gun; two Ns
- Canon — a rule, or an accepted body of works; one N
- Canon — also a cathedral clergyman
- Canon — a musical form where a melody chases itself
- Loose cannon — an unpredictable person, from an unsecured gun on a ship's deck
From Italian *cannone*, a large tube, from Latin *canna*, a reed, from Greek *kanna*. *Canon* comes from Greek *kanon*, a measuring rod.
Where does *loose cannon* come from?
From a naval gun breaking free of its lashings on a rolling deck, causing havoc among its own crew.
Cannon or cannons?
Both plurals are used. Cannon unchanged is traditional in military writing; cannons is common elsewhere.