can

From Middle English can, first and third person singular of connen, cunnen (“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 *ǵneh₃- (whence know). Compare West Frisian kinne, Dutch kunnen, Low German könen, German können, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål kunne, Swedish and Norwegian Nynorsk kunna. Doublet of con. See also: canny, cunning.

• (stressed)
  • enPR: kăn
  • (Received Pronunciation, Ireland) IPA^(key): /kæn/, [kʰan~kʰæn]
  • (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /kæn/, [kʰæn~kʰɛən~kʰeən]

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -æn
• (unstressed)
  • IPA^(key): /kən/, [kʰən], [kʰn̩]

  • Audio (US; unstressed)

    (file)

can (third-person singular simple present can, present participle -, simple past could, past participle (obsolete except in adjectival use) couth)

1. (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?

   • (Can we date this quote?) Reginald Pecock

     Clerks which can write books.

   • 2013 July-August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist:

     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 have the potential to; be possible.

   Can it be Friday already?

   Teenagers can really try their parents' patience.

   Animals can experience emotions.

   • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:

     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?

   • 2009, Annette Sym, Simply Too Good to be True, Greenleaf Book Group (→ISBN), page 4:

     Teenagers can be so cruel, and nicknames cut deep.

4. (auxiliary verb, defective) Used with verbs of perception.

   Can you hear that?.

   I can feel the baby moving inside me.

5. (obsolete, transitive) To know.
   • ca.1360-1387, William Langland, Piers Plowman

     I can rimes of Robin Hood.

   • ca.1360-1387, William Langland, Piers Plowman

     I can no Latin, quod she.

   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     Let the priest in surplice white, / That defunctive music can.

• 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 usually contracted to cannot (more formal) or can’t (less formal).
• 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 (/kæn(ʔ)/), in order to differentiate can’t from can, pronounce can as /kɛn/ even when stressed.

• be able to
• may

• cannot
• can’t

• Appendix:English modal verbs
• Appendix:English tag questions

From Middle English canne, from Old English canne (“glass, container, cup, can”), from Proto-Germanic *kannǭ (“can, tankard, mug, cup”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *gan-, *gandʰ- (“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”).

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: kăn, IPA^(key): /kæn/
  • Rhymes: -æn
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /kæːn/
  • Rhymes: -æːn
• (æ-tensing) IPA^(key): [keən]

a can (3)

can (plural cans)

1. A more or less cylindrical vessel for liquids, usually of steel or aluminium, but sometimes of plastic, and with a carrying handle over the top.
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. (archaic) A chamber pot, now (US, slang) a toilet or lavatory.

   Shit or get off the can.

   Bob's in the can. You can wait a few minutes or just leave it with me.

5. (US, slang) Buttocks.
6. (slang) Jail or prison.

   Bob's in the can. He won't be back for a few years.

7. (slang, plural) Headphones.
8. (archaic) A drinking cup.
   • Shakespeare, Twelfth Night II.iii

     SIR ANDREW: Nay, my troth, I know not: but I know, to be up late is to be up late.

     SIR TOBY: A false conclusion: I hate it as an unfilled can.

   • Tennyson

     Fill the cup and fill the can, / Have a rouse before the morn.

9. (nautical) A cube-shaped buoy or marker used to denote a port-side lateral mark
10. A chimney pot.

• (toilet): See Thesaurus:chamber pot and Thesaurus:toilet
• (place with a toilet): See Thesaurus:bathroom
• (cylindrical metal container): tin (British & Australian at least)

• kick-the-can
• shitcan

can (third-person singular simple present cans, present participle canning, simple past and past participle canned)

1. To seal in a can.

   They canned air to sell as a novelty to tourists.

2. To preserve by heating and sealing in a jar or can.

   They spent August canning fruit and vegetables.

3. To discard, scrap or terminate (an idea, project, etc.).

   He canned the whole project because he thought it would fail.

4. To shut up.

   Can your gob.

5. (US, euphemistic) To fire or dismiss an employee.

   The boss canned him for speaking out.

• decan, recan, uncan

• ANC, CNA, NAC, NCA

can

1. milk

can m (plural cans)

1. dog

• Bal Palazios, Santiago (2002), “can”, in Dizionario breu de a luenga aragonesa, Zaragoza, →ISBN

From Latin canis, canem.

can m (plural canes)

1. dog (animal)

• perru

From Persian جان‎ (jân).

can (definite accusative canı, plural canlar)

1. soul, spirit
2. being, creature, life
3. body
4. force, vigour

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈkan/

can

1. Contraction of ca en.

• “can” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

• cānin

• IPA^(key): /kaːn/

cān

1. where

• campa
• canah

• ahcān
• nicān
• oncān

From Old Portuguese can, from Latin canis, canem.

can m (plural cans)

1. dog

• cadela

can m (plural cans)

1. trigger

can (plural canes)

1. dog
2. cock, hammer (of a firearm)

From Old Irish canaid, from Proto-Celtic *kaneti (“to sing”), from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂n-. Compare Welsh canu, Latin canō, Ancient Greek καναχέω (kanakhéō), Persian خواندن‎ (xândan).

• IPA^(key): /kanˠ/

can (present analytic canann, future analytic canfaidh, verbal noun canadh, past participle canta)

1. to sing
   • 2015, Proinsias Mac a' Bhaird, transl., Maura McHugh, editor, Amhrán na Mara (fiction), Cartoon Saloon; Coiscéim, translation of Song of the Sea by Will Collins, →ISBN:

     Thuas i dteach an tsolais, faoi réaltaí geala, canann Bronach Amhrán na Mara dá mac Ben atá cúig bliana d'aois.

     Up in the lighthouse, under twinkling stars, Bronach sings the Song of the Sea to her five-year-old son, Ben.

From Latin canis.

can m

1. dog

• IPA^(key): /kan/, [kän̺]

From Turkic.

• cane

can m (invariable)

1. Obsolete spelling of khan

See the etymology of the main entry.

can m (plural cani)

1. (poetic, literary) Apocopic form of cane; dog

Related to Persian جان‎ (jân).

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɑːn/

can ?

1. soul

From Latin canis, canem.

can m (plural chen)

1. dog

can

1. Nonstandard spelling of cān.
2. Nonstandard spelling of cán.
3. Nonstandard spelling of cǎn.
4. Nonstandard spelling of càn.

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

can

1. first-person and third-person singular present indicative of connen

can

1. Alternative form of canne

From Old Occitan [Term?], from Latin canis, canem.

can m (plural cans, feminine canha, feminine plural canhas)

1. dog, hound

• quan

From Latin quandō.

can

1. when
   • circa 1200, Peire Vidal, Ab l'alen tir vas me l'aire:

     Tan m'es bel quan n'aug ben dire.

     So much it pleases me when I hear it spoken of well.

can

1. (interrogative) when

• Catalan: quan
• Occitan: quand

From Latin canis (“dog”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ (“dog”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈkã/

can m

1. dog
   • 13th century, Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional, Alfonso X of Castile, B 476: Non quer'eu donzela fea (facsimile)

     Non quereu donzela fea / E ueloſa come cam

     I do not want an ugly maiden, as hairy as a dog

• Galician: can
• Portuguese: cão

From Middle English can, first and third person singular of connen, cunnen (“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 *ǵneh₃- (whence know).

can (third-person singular present can, past cud)

1. can
2. be able to

   He shuid can dae that. ― He should be able to do that.

• cannae (“cannot”)

From Old Irish canaid (“to sing”), from Proto-Celtic *kaneti (“to sing”), from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂n-. Compare Welsh canu, Latin canō, Ancient Greek καναχέω (kanakhéō), Persian خواندن‎ (xândan).

can (past chan, future canaidh, verbal noun cantainn, past participle cante)

1. to say

• Faclair Gàidhlig Dwelly Air Loidhne, Dwelly, Edward (1911), Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan/The Illustrated [Scottish] Gaelic-English Dictionary (10th ed.), Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN

From Latin canis, canem (compare Aromanian cãne, Catalan ca, French chien, Italian cane, Portuguese cão), from Proto-Italic *kō (accusative *kwanem), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ (accusative *ḱwónm̥).

• IPA^(key): /kan/
• Rhymes: -an

can m (plural canes)

1. dog, hound

• chucho m (colloquial)
• perro m

• cánido m

• cachorro m

• canijo
• canino

Borrowing from Persian جان‎ (jân, “soul, vital spirit, life”). Cognate with English quick.

• IPA^(key): /dʒan/

can (definite accusative canı, plural canlar)

1. soul, life, being
2. sweetheart

• Can

From Latin canis, canem.

• IPA^(key): /kaŋ/

can m (plural cani)

1. dog

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [kaːn˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kaːŋ˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [kaːŋ˧˧]

Sino-Vietnamese word from 肝.

can

1. (alternative medicine) Synonym of gan (“liver”)

Sino-Vietnamese word from 干.

can

1. Short for Thiên Can (“celestial stem”).

can

1. to concern; to apply to
2. to be involved (in); to be implicated (in)

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 諫 (SV: gián).

can

1. to dissuade (someone from doing something); to intervene

From English canne.

(classifier cây, cái) can

1. walking stick

can

1. to join; to unite; to sew together

From French calque.

can

1. to trace (through translucent paper), to do tracing

can (plural cans)

1. sales commodity, merchandise, wares

• Audio

  (file)

can

1. bleached, white

can m (plural caniau)

1. flour

From Proto-Celtic *kantom (“hundred”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm.

can

1. hundred

can m (plural caniau)

1. a can

• cân

• Definition from the BBC.