佳能

Canon is rendered as 佳能 (Jiā néng) in Chinese. 佳 means 'excellent/fine' and 能 means 'ability/capability'. Together 'excellent capability' is a fitting name for a camera and imaging company. The brand name Canon comes from Kwanon, the Buddhist bodhisattva of mercy, which was the name of the company's first camera prototype in 1934.

Character-by-character pronunciation

佳能 uses 2 characters to represent the brand name in Chinese. Each character contributes to the phonetic or semantic rendering.