can

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Can (verb)

Wikipedia

Etymology 1

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-West Germanic *kunnan, from Proto-Germanic *kunnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (whence also know). Doublet of con. See also: canny, cunning.

Alternative forms

• canne (obsolete)
• kin (pronunciation spelling)

Pronunciation

• (stressed)
  • enPR: kăn
  • (Received Pronunciation, Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈkæn/, ,
  • (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈkæn/, , (see /æ/ raising)
  • (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈkæn/, , (see /æ/ raising)
    • (Philadelphia) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛn/
  • (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛn/,

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -æn
• (unstressed)
  • IPA^(key): /kən/, ,

  • Audio (US; unstressed)

    (file)

Pronunciation notes

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

Verb

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

1. (auxiliary verb, defective) To know how to; to be able to.

   Synonym: be able to

   Antonyms: cannot, can't

   She can speak English, French, and German.

   I can play football.

   Can you remember your fifth birthday?

   • 1449, Reginald Pecock, Represser of over-much weeting of the Clergie:

     prouyng which eny clerk can or woel or mai make bi eny maner euydence of resoun or of Scripture, and namelich of resoun into the contrarie.

   • 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.

   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     If thou canst awake by four o' the clock, / I prithee call me. Sleep hath seized me wholly.

2. (modal auxiliary verb, defective, informal) May; to be permitted or enabled to.

   Synonym: may

   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.

   Synonyms: cognize, grok, ken

   • 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.

   • 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: Richard Field, , →OCLC; Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis: , 4th edition, London: J M Dent and Co. , 1896, →OCLC:

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

     The spelling has been modernized.

6. (India, nonstandard, proscribed) To be (followed by a word like able, possible, allowed).
   • 2011 November 29, Tai-hoon Kim, Hojjat Adeli, Carlos Ramos, Byeong-Ho Kang, Signal Processing, Image Processing and Pattern Recognition: International Conferences, SIP 2011, Held as Part of the Future Generation Information Technology Conference, FGIT 2011, in Conjunction with GDC 2011, Jeju Island, Korea, December 8-10, 2011. Proceedings, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 114:

     Importance of Identifying Leaf: Identify Plants: If we can able to identify leaf, we can easily able to identify plants.

   • 2018 February 15, Asha Bajpai, Child Rights in India: Law, Policy, and Practice, Oxford University Press, →ISBN:

     Children in need of care and protection can allowed to be placed in foster care based on the orders of the CWC. The selection of the foster family is based on the family's ability, intent, capacity, and prior experience of taking care […]

   • 2020 May 22, Pardeep Kumar, Vasaki Ponnusamy, Vishal Jain, Industrial Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems: Transforming the Conventional to Digital: Transforming the Conventional to Digital, IGI Global, →ISBN, page 226:

     It can possible to design the ruleset refreshes that allow them to subsequently run at precise interludes and these keep informed.

Usage notes

• For missing forms, substitute inflected forms of be able to, as:
  • I might be able to go.
  • 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 able to go” can be rendered “I could go”. (Unless there is a clear indication otherwise, “could verb” means “was 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.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Translations

See also

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

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: kăn, IPA^(key): /ˈkæn/
  • Rhymes: -æn
• (General Australian, Southern England) IPA^(key): /ˈkæːn/
• (æ-tensing) IPA^(key):

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

can (plural cans)

1. A more or less cylindrical and often metal container or vessel.

   Synonym: (Australia, Britain, and some Commonwealth nations) tin

2. A container used to carry and dispense water for plants (a watering can).
3. (archaic) A chamber pot.
   1. (US, slang) a toilet or lavatory.

      (toilet): Synonyms: see Thesaurus:chamber pot, Thesaurus:toilet

      (place with a toilet): Synonyms: see Thesaurus:bathroom

      Shit or get off the can.

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

      • 1951, J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 35:

        I didn't have anything special to do, so I went down to the can and chewed the rag with him while he was shaving.

      • 1977-1980, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure

        If he was going to hide out in the can, he can just stay there & sleep in the tub.

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

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

   • 1988, The Traveling Wilburys (lyrics and music), “Tweeter and the Monkey Man”, in The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1:

     The undercover cop never liked the Monkey Man / Even back in childhood, he wanted to see him in the can

6. (slang, in the plural) Headphones.
7. (archaic) A drinking cup.
   • 1600, [Michael Drayton, Richard Hathwaye, Anthony Munday, Robert Wilson], The First Part of the True and Honorable Historie, of the Life of Sir John Old-castle, the Good Lord Cobham. ‎, London: [V S] for Thomas Pauier, , →OCLC:

     VVhen the vulgar ſort / Sit on their Ale-bench, vvith their cups and kannes, / Matters of ſtate be not their common talke, / Nor pure religion by their lips prophande.

   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene 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.

   • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “A Vision of Sin”, in Poems. , volume II, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, page 218:

     Fill the cup and fill the can: / Have a rouse before the morn: / Every minute dies a man, / Every minute one is born.

8. (nautical) A cube-shaped buoy or marker used to denote a port-side lateral mark
9. A chimney pot.
10. (slang, in the plural) An E-meter used in Scientology auditing.
11. (US, slang) An ounce (or sometimes, two ounces) of marijuana.
    • 1970, California. Supreme Court, Reports of Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of California:

      […] prosecution for selling and giving away marijuana, the evidence clearly constituted substantial proof that a package purchased by defendant contained marijuana where he requested "four cans" of marijuana to be delivered to himself and […]

12. A protective cover for the fuel element in a nuclear reactor.
13. (vulgar, slang, Canada, US) The breasts of a woman.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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.

   • 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, pages 67–68:

     My next stop is Oxford, which has also grown with the addition of new platforms to accommodate the Chiltern Railways service to London via Bicester - although, short sightedly, the planned electrification from Paddington was canned. Evidence of the volte-face can be seen along the line at places such as Radley, where mast piles are already sunk or lie discarded at the lineside.

4. (transitive, slang) To shut up.

   Can your gob.

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

   The boss canned him for speaking out.

   • 2022 November 25, B. Cost, “Man wins legal right to be 'boring' at work, gets $3K from company”, in New York Post‎, NYP Holdings, retrieved 2022-11-27:

     As a result of his refusal, the employee was subsequently canned in 2015 on the basis of "professional inadequacy" and failing to embody the "party" atmosphere that the consultancy was trying to cultivate.

6. (golf, slang, transitive) To hole the ball.
   • 1958, Dick Mayer, How to Think and Swing Like a Golf Champion, page 186:

     I thought I had canned it, but it just missed, and I tapped in the second one for a par.

7. (transitive) To cover (the fuel element in a nuclear reactor) with a protective cover.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (discard): bin, dump, scrap; see also Thesaurus:junk
• (shut up): can it, stifle; see also Thesaurus:stop talking or Thesaurus:make silent
• (dismiss an employee): axe, let go, sack; see also Thesaurus:lay off

Derived terms

• decan, recan, uncan
• canner, canning

Translations

See also

• cancan / can-can
• Obamacan / Obama-can

References

• “can”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• ANC, CNA, NAC, NCA

Afar

Etymology

Related to Somali caano, Oromo aannan and Saho xan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈħan/,
• Hyphenation: can

Noun

cán m (plural caanowá f or canooná f)

1. milk

Declension

References

• Loren F. Bliese (1981) A Generative Grammar of Afar‎, Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and University of Texas at Arlington (doctoral thesis).
• E. M. Parker; R. J. Hayward (1985), “can”, in An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN
• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎, Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

Aragonese

Etymology

From Latin canis, canem.

Noun

can m (plural cans)

1. dog

References

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

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin canis, canem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkan/,

Noun

can m (plural canes)

1. dog (animal)

Synonyms

• perru

Azerbaijani

Etymology

From Persian جان‎ (jân).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): ,

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

can (definite accusative canı, plural canlar)

1. soul, spirit
2. being, creature, life
3. body (in expressions concerning body sensations)

   Synonym: bədən

   Canım ağrıyır. ― My body is aching.

   Canıma üşütmə düşdü. ― My body is shivering.

4. force, vigour
5. life (the state of organisms preceding their death)

   canını almaq ― to kill (literally, “to take the life of”)

Declension

Derived terms

Catalan

Pronunciation

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

Contraction

can

1. Contraction of ca en (“the house of”).

Further reading

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

Chinese

Etymology 1

Clipping of English canteen.

Pronunciation

Noun

can

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, university slang) canteen; restaurant (in a university campus)

Etymology 2

Clipping of English cancer.

Pronunciation

Noun

can

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) cancer

Synonyms

• cancer, 癌症 (áizhèng)

Classical Nahuatl

Alternative forms

• cānin

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaːn/

Pronoun

cān

1. where

Derived terms

• campa
• canah

Related terms

Galician

Alternative forms

• cão (reintegrationist)
• cam (reintegrationist)

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese can, from Latin canis, canem. Cognate with Portuguese cão.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaŋ/

Noun

can m (plural cans)

1. dog

   Cando o can ladra na rúa, non ladra de balde.

   When the dog barks in the street, it does not bark for nothing

2. (historical) 20th century 5, 10 cents of peseta coin

Related terms

• cadela
• caíño
• cairo
• can de palleiro
• dente cairo

Etymology 2

From Old Galician-Portuguese quan, from Latin quam. Cognate with Portuguese quão and Spanish cuan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaŋ/

Noun

can m (plural cans)

1. how

Etymology 3

From Old French chan, from Medieval Latin canus, ultimately from Turkic *qan, contraction of *qaɣan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaŋ/

Noun

can m (plural cans)

1. khan

References

• “can” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “can” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “can” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “can” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “can” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Interlingua

Noun

can (plural canes)

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

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kan̪ˠ/, /kanˠ/

Etymology 1

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

Verb

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

1. to sing
   • 2015 [2014], Will Collins, translated by Proinsias Mac a' Bhaird, edited by Maura McHugh, Amhrán na Mara (fiction; paperback), Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Howth, Dublin: Cartoon Saloon; Coiscéim, translation of Song of the Sea (in English), →ISBN, page 1:

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

2. (Ulster) to speak, talk

   Synonyms: labhair, bí ag caint

Conjugation

Etymology 2

Noun

can m (genitive singular cana)

1. sawdust, wood shavings
2. dandruff

Declension

Etymology 3

Noun

can m

1. state, condition

Adverb

can

1. (literary) whence

Derived terms

• can duit? (“where are you from?”)

Mutation

References

Further reading

• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904), “canaim”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 113
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “can”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

Istriot

Etymology

From Latin canis.

Noun

can m

1. dog

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkan/
• Rhymes: -an
• Hyphenation: càn

Etymology 1

From Turkic.

Alternative forms

• cane

Noun

can m (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Alternative spelling of khan

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

can m (apocopated)

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

Ligurian

Alternative forms

• càn

Etymology

From Latin canis, canem (“dog”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaŋ/

Noun

can m (plural chen, diminutive cagnetto or cagnin, feminine cagna)

1. dog, male dog

Related terms

• cagnara

Lombard

Etymology

From Latin Latin canis. Cognate with Italian cane.

Noun

can

1. dog

Mandarin

Romanization

can

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

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Middle Dutch

Verb

can

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

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

can

1. Alternative form of canne

Etymology 2

Verb

can

1. Alternative form of cunnen

Northern Kurdish

Etymology

Related to Persian جان‎ (jân).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɑːn/

Noun

can ?

1. soul

Occitan

Etymology

From Old Occitan , from Latin canis, canem.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

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

1. dog, hound

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkã/

Noun

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

Descendants

• Galician: can
• Portuguese: cão

Old Occitan

Alternative forms

• quan

Etymology

From Latin quandō.

Conjunction

can

1. when
   • c. 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.

Adverb

can

1. (interrogative) when

Descendants

• Occitan: quand

Salar

Etymology

From Persian جان‎ (jân, “soul, life, life force”).

Pronunciation

• (Jiezi, Gaizi, Qingshui, Xunhua, Qinghai) IPA^(key):
• (Jiezi, Gaizi, Xunhua, Qinghai) IPA^(key):
• (Mengda, Qingshui, Xunhua, Qinghai) IPA^(key):