cañón

See also: Appendix:Variations of "canon"

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Spanish cañón.

Noun

cañón (plural cañóns)

1. Alternative form of canyon.
   • 1970, Adolph F[rancis] Bandelier, edited by Charles H. Lange, Carroll L. Riley, and Elizabeth M. Lange, The Southwestern Journals of Adolph F. Bandelier, volume [2] (1883–1884), Albuquerque, N.M.: University of New Mexico Press, →ISBN, page 188:

     The Reduction Works stand on the brow of the first terrace; here the plain of the valley disappears, and north of us the valley takes the shape of a cañón, narrowing down.

   • 2000, Lou Sage Batchen, “Life in the Old Houses: Part VI. Hunts of the Old Days. June 9, 1939”, in Tey Diana Rebolledo, María Teresa Márquez, editors, Women’s Tales from the New Mexico WPA: La Diabla a Pie (Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage), Houston, Tex.: Arte Público Press, →ISBN, part II (Lou Sage Batchen), chapter 6 (Placitas), page 192:

     In those early days the grasses in the cañóns grew high.

   • 2009, Leah Garland, “Cherríe Moraga’s Writing Toward Difference”, in Contemporary Latina/o Performing Arts of Moraga, Tropicana, Fusco, and Bustamante (Modern American Literature; 44), New York, N.Y.: Peter Lang, →ISBN, page 35:

     She compares the grandness and age of a California mission to the cañón, an archetypal image of the Southwest landscape.

Usage notes

• The Spanish plural is cañones.

Asturian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈɲon/ [kaˈɲõŋ]
• Rhymes: -on
• Syllabification: ca‧ñón

Etymology 1

cañu +‎ -ón.

Alternative forms

• canón (Southwestern, Meridional, dialectal)

Noun

cañón m (plural cañones)

1. augmentative of cañu
2. chimney

   Synonym: chimenea

3. growing feather of a chick

Derived terms

• a cañón

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Spanish cañón.

Noun

cañón m (plural cañones)

1. cannon

Derived terms

• carne de cañón

Further reading

• “cañón”, in Diccionariu de la llingua asturiana [Dictionary of the Asturian Language] (in Asturian), 1st edition, Academy of the Asturian Language [Asturian: Academia de la Llingua Asturiana], 2000, →ISBN
• García Arias, Xosé Lluis (2002–2004), “cañón”, in Diccionario general de la lengua asturiana [General Dictionary of the Asturian Language] (overall work in Spanish), Editorial Prensa Asturiana, →ISBN

Spanish

Etymology

From caño (“tube, pipe”) + -ón (augmentative).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈɲon/ [kaˈɲõn]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -on
• Syllabification: ca‧ñón

Noun

cañón m (plural cañones)

1. (geography) canyon
2. cannon
3. barrel (of a gun), pipe, tube
4. projector (device)

   Synonym: proyector

5. (Spain) augmentative of caña (“large beer”)

Derived terms

• al pie del cañón
• bóveda de cañón
• cañón de agua
• cañón de avancarga
• cañón de chimenea
• cañón de nieve
• cañonear
• carne de cañón
• escopeta de dos cañones
• Gran Cañón
• ni a cañón
• pólvora de cañón

Related terms

• caña
• cáñamo
• cañería
• caño

Descendants

• → English: canyon
• → Polish: kanion
• → Tagalog: kanyon

Adjective

cañón (invariable)

1. (Mexico, colloquial, euphemistic) powerful, intense, difficult

Further reading

• “cañón”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025