headcanon
headcanon noun: elements and interpretations of a fictional universe accepted by an individual or small group of fans, but not necessarily found within or supported by the official canon.
Noun
headcanon (countable and uncountable, plural headcanons)
- Elements and interpretations of a fictional universe accepted by an individual or small group of fans, but not necessarily found within or supported by the official canon.
- In my own headcanon of Rocky IV, Ivan Drago is a Russian Mafia enforcer instead of a Red Army Captain.
- Technically, the social context of Borogravia is such that the actual external difference between a trans man and a woman disguised as a man is practically indiscernible – the technology level means they’re indistinguishable by the bodily modification standard (although now that I think about it...2012, Maggie K, "Let's talk about socks: Gender performativity in Terry Pratchett's Monstrous Regiment", Queer Vertigo 2012 (University of Technology, Sydney), unknown date, page 17
Verb
headcanon (third-person singular simple present headcanons, present participle headcanoning, simple past and past participle headcanoned)
- To interpret in the form of a headcanon.
- I headcanon her as gay.
- From headcanoning him, kicking his legs, and blushing at a compliment to wearing cat ears, Ghost’s menacing persona is being accepted as a cute little quirk to the girlies. In response, much of COD’s male fanbase is accusing this mostly-female demographic of babygirlifiers of sexualizing him.2022 November 30, Rachel Choi, “The babygirlification of Ghost in COD is threatening the incels”, in The Berkeley Beacon
Forms of headcanon
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | headcanons |
| alternative form | head canon |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | headcanons |
| present participle | headcanoning |
| past participle | headcanoned |
| past | headcanoned |
Origin of headcanon
From head + canon. First attested in c. 2007.
Questions about headcanon
- What does headcanon mean?
- Headcanon means elements and interpretations of a fictional universe accepted by an individual or small group of fans, but not necessarily found within or supported by the official canon.
- What part of speech is headcanon?
- Headcanon can be a noun or a verb.
- What is the plural of headcanon?
- The plural of headcanon is headcanons.
Words near headcanon in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: headcanon (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-headcanon.wav.
Cite this entry: “headcanon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/headcanon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.