can

 

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Can (verb)

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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.

• canne (obsolete)
• kin (pronunciation spelling)

• (stressed)
  • enPR: kăn
  • (Received Pronunciation, Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈkæn/, [ˈkʰan], [ˈkʰæn]
  • (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈkæn/, [ˈkʰæn], [ˈkʰɛən ~ ˈkʰeən] (see /æ/ raising)
    • (Philadelphia) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛn/
  • (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈkæn/, [ˈkʰæn], [ˈkʰɛːn] (see /æ/ raising)
  • (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛn/, [ˈkʰɛˑn]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

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

  • Audio (US, unstressed form):

    (file)

• 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.

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 [blaming] 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[ward] 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.

   • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

     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:

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

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.

• 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.

• 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”).

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

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

 

An unlabeled, corrugated can (sense 1), often used to store preserved foods.

 

A can (sense 1) of hair spray with a clear cap.

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, Boston, Mass.: 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. […]‎^[1], London: […] [V[alentine] S[immes]] 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[ward] 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 cylindrical 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.

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

1. (transitive) To seal in a can.

   They canned air to sell as a novelty to tourists.

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

   They spent August canning fruit and vegetables.

3. (transitive) 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, transitive) 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^[2], 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.

• (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

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

• “can”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• ANC, CNA, NAC, NCA

 

Related to Somali caano, Oromo aannan and Saho xan.

• IPA^(key): /ˈħan/ [ˈħʌn]
• Hyphenation: can

cán m (plural caanowá f or canooná f)

1. milk

• Loren F. Bliese (1981) A Generative Grammar of Afar‎^[3], 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)‎^[4], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

From Latin canis, canem.

can m (plural cans)

1. dog

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

From Latin canis, canem.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkan/, [ˈkãŋ]

can m (plural canes)

1. dog (animal)

• perru

From Persian جان (jân).

• IPA^(key): [d͡ʒɑn], [d͡zɑn]

• Audio:

  (file)

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”)

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈkan]

can

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

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

Clipping of English canteen.

can

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

Clipping of English cancer.

can

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) cancer

• cancer, 癌症 (áizhèng)

• cānin

• IPA^(key): /kaːn/

cān

1. where

• campa
• canah

 

• cam, cão (reintegrationist)

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaŋ/ [ˈkɑŋ]
• Rhymes: -aŋ

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

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

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

can m (plural cans)

1. how

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

can m (plural cans)

1. khan

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “can”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “can”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “can”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “can”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “can”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

can (plural canes)

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

• IPA^(key): /kan̪ˠ/, /kanˠ/

From Old Irish canaid,^[1] from Proto-Celtic *kaneti (“to sing”), from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂n-. Compare Welsh canu, Latin canō, Ancient Greek καναχέω (kanakhéō), Persian خواندن (xândan).

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.

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

2. (Ulster) to speak, talk

   Synonyms: labhair, bí ag caint

can m (genitive singular cana)

1. sawdust, wood shavings
2. dandruff

can m

1. state, condition

can

1. (literary) whence

• can duit? (“where are you from?”)

• 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

From Latin canis.