Canon (Latin canon from Greek κανών "measuring rod, standard") may refer to any standard or convention. The corresponding adjective is canonical. English canon may also represent Latin canonicus "one who is canonical".
- Canon (basic principle)
- Western canon, the books, music, and art that have been the most influential in shaping Western culture
- Chinese classics or Chinese canonical texts
- Canon of Dutch Literature, list of the most important Dutch literary works
- Music
- Canon (music), a contrapuntal composition which employs a melody with one or more imitations
- Pachelbel's Canon
- Visual arts
- Aesthetic canon, a rule for the proportions of a human figure
- Film canon, the limited number of masterpieces by which all other films are judged
- Literature
- The Canon, nonfiction science book by Natalie Angier
- The Western Canon (book), book on the Western canon by Harold Bloom
- Canon (fiction), material that is considered to be genuine by a fan base
- Religion
- Canon law, the body of laws and regulations made by or adopted by ecclesiastical authority
- Canon law (Catholic Church)
- Canonization, the process of declaring a person to be a Saint
- Canon (priest), a Christian priest who belongs to one of certain chapters
- Biblical canon
- Canon (hymnography), a type of Eastern Orthodox hymn
- Canon of the Mass, the Eucharistic Prayer of the Roman Rite
- Penitential canons
- Taoist canon or Daozang
- Pāli Canon
- Chinese Buddhist canon
- Tibetan Buddhist canon
- Tanakh, sometimes referred to as the Jewish Bible Canon
As a proper noun, Canon may also refer to:
- Toponymy
- Canon, Georgia, a city in Franklin County, Georgia, United States
- Cañon or canyon, a deep valley between cliffs
- Brands and Products
- Canon (company), a Japanese imaging and optical products corporation; produces Canon cameras
- Canon Communications, a media company headquartered in Los Angeles
- Canon (game), an online browser-based strategy war game
- Canon (manga), a shōjo manga by Chika Shiomi
- Château Canon (disambiguation), one of a number of wineries
Famous quotes containing the word canon:
“O! that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw and resolve itself into a dew;
Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d
His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world.
Fie on’t! O fie! ‘tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed;”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“There is a Canon which confines
A Rhymed Octosyllabic Curse
If written in Iambic Verse
To fifty lines.”
—Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953)
“Art is not the application of a canon of beauty but what the instinct and the brain can conceive beyond any canon. When we love a woman we don’t start measuring her limbs.”
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)