• Can

    Pronunciation

    • stressed
      • enPR: kăn, IPA: /kæn/, /kÉ›n/
      • Rhymes: -æn
    • unstressed
      • IPA: /kÉ™n/, /knÌ©/, /kɪn/

    Origin 1

    From Middle English can (first and third person singular of cunnen, connen ("") "to be able, know how") from Old English can(n) (""), first and third person singular of cunnan ("to know how"), from Proto-Germanic *kunnaną, from Proto-Indo-European, *ǵn̥néh₃-. Compare Dutch kunnen, Low German könen, German können, Danish kunne. More at canny, cunning.

    Full definition of can

    Verb

    1. (modal auxiliary verb, defective) To know how to; to be able to.
      She can speak English, French, and German.   I can play football.   Can you remember your fifth birthday?
      • 2013, Lee S. Langston, The Adaptable Gas Turbine, Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.
    2. (modal auxiliary verb, defective, informal) May; to be permitted or enabled to.
      You can go outside and play when you're finished with your homework.   Can I use your pen?
    3. (modal auxiliary verb, defective) To be possible, usually with be.
      Can it be Friday already?
      • 1922, Ben Travers, A Cuckoo in the Nest Chapter 5, The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite....Can those harmless but refined fellow-diners be the selfish cads whose gluttony and personal appearance so raised your contemptuous wrath on your arrival?
    4. (obsolete, transitive) To know.

    Usage notes

    For missing forms, substitute inflected forms of be able to, as:

    I might be able to go.

    I was able to go yesterday.

    I have been able to go, since I was seven.

    I had been able to go before.

    I will be able to go tomorrow.

    The word could also suffices in many tenses. "I would be able to go" is equivalent to "I could go", and "I was unable to go" can be rendered "I could not go". (Unless there is a clear indication otherwise, "could verb" means "would be able to verb", but "could not verb" means "was/were unable to verb".)

    The present tense negative can not is often contracted to cannot or can't.

    The use of can in asking permission sometimes is criticized as being impolite or incorrect by those who favour the more formal alternative "may I...?".

    Can is sometimes used rhetorically to issue a command, placing the command in the form of a request. For instance, "Can you hand me that pen?" as a polite substitution for "Hand me that pen."

    Some US dialects that glottalize the final /t/ in can't (), in order to differentiate can't from can, pronounce can as IPA: /kɛn/ even when stressed.

    Synonyms

    Antonyms

    Pronunciation

    • RP enPR: kăn, IPA: /kæn/
      • Rhymes: -æn
    • AusE IPA: /kæːn/
      • Rhymes: -æːn
    • New York IPA: /keÉ™n/

    Origin 2

    From Middle English canne, from Old English canne ("glass, container, cup, can"), from Proto-Germanic *kannÇ­ ("can, tankard, mug, cup"), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *gan-, *gandÊ°- ("a vessel"). Cognate with Scots can ("can"), West Frisian kanne ("a jug, pitcher"), Dutch kan ("pot, mug"), German Kanne ("can, tankard, mug"), Danish kande ("can, mug, a measure"), Swedish kanna ("can, tankard, mug"), Icelandic kanna ("a can").

    Noun

    can

    (plural cans)
    1. A more or less cylindrical vessel for liquids, usually of steel or aluminium.
    2. A container used to carry and dispense water for plants (a watering can).
    3. A tin-plate canister, often cylindrical, for preserved foods such as fruit, meat, or fish.
    4. (US, slang) toilet, bathroom.
    5. (US, slang) buttocks.
    6. (slang) jail or prison.
    7. (slang) headphones.
    8. (obsolete) A drinking cup.
      • TennysonFill the cup and fill the can,
        Have a rouse before the morn.

    Synonyms

    • (cylindrical metal container) tin British & Australian at least

    Derived terms

    Terms derived from can (Etymology 2)

    Verb

    1. To preserve, by heating and sealing in a can or jar.They spent August canning fruit and vegetables.
    2. to discard, scrap or terminate (an idea, project, etc.).He canned the whole project because he thought it would fail.
    3. To shut up.Can your gob.
    4. (US, euphemistic) To fire or dismiss an employee.The boss canned him for speaking out.

    Anagrams

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