# can't
## English
### Alternative forms

* ca'n't (obsolete)
* cain't (dialectal, Southern US)

### Etymology

From can +‎ -n't, since 1706 or earlier.

### Pronunciation

* enPR: känt, IPA: /kɑːnt/
** (Received Pronunciation, Southern England, General South African) IPA: [kɑːnt]
*** Audio (Received Pronunciation):(file)
** (Northern England, Wales) IPA: [kɑːnt], [käːnt]
** (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA: [kɐːnt]
*** Audio (General Australian):(file)
** (India) IPA: [kaːɳʈ]
*** Audio (India):(file)
** (Ireland) IPA: [kaːnt]
** (some US speakers) IPA: [kɑnt]
** Rhymes: -ɑːnt
* enPR: kănt, IPA: /kænt/
** (General American, Canada) IPA: [kænt~kɛənt~keənt], /kæn(ʔ)/
*** Audio (General American):(file)
** (New York City, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore) IPA: /kɛənt/
** (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA: [käːnt]
** Homophones: cant, Kant (in some dialects)
** Rhymes: -ænt
* enPR: kānt, IPA: /keɪnt/
** (Southern US) IPA: [kʰẽɪ̃nt], [kʰẽɪ̃n(ʔ)]
*** Audio (Southern US):(file)
** Rhymes: -eɪnt

### Verb

can't
* Cannot (negative auxiliary); is unable to; does not have the ability to.
    Antonyms: be able to, can
    I can’t quite get it to work.
** 2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Tuchanka:Shepard: Mordin, walk away. Mordin: Can't do that, Shepard. Shepard: I don't have a choice here. Walk away, or I will fire.
* Is forbidden to; is not permitted to.
    Antonyms: be able to, can, have to, must
    You can’t enter the hall without a ticket.
* Often followed by be: is logically impossible.
    Antonyms: be able to, can, have to, must
    The butler can’t be the murderer because he was in London that evening.
** 1750, W[illiam] Ellis, The Country Housewife's Family Companion: Or Profitable Directions for Whatever Relates to the Management and Good Œconomy of the Domestick Concerns of a Country Life, According to the Present Practice of the Country Gentleman's, the Yeoman's, the Farmer's, &c. Wives, in the Counties of Hertford, Bucks, and Other Parts of England: Shewing how Great Savings may be Made in Housekeeping: [...] With Variety of Curious Matters [...] The Whole Founded on Near Thirty Years Experience, London: Printed for James Hodges, at the Looking-glass, facing St. Magnus Church, London-Bridge; and B. Collins, bookseller, at Salisbury, →OCLC, page 157:To make Capons […] [S]ome for this Purpoſe make it their Buſineſs after Harveſt-time to go to Markets for buying up Chickens, and between Michaelmas and All-hollantide caponize the Cocks, when they have got large enough to have Stones [i.e., testes] of ſuch a Bigneſs that they may be pulled out; for if they are too little, it can't be done; […]

#### Usage notes

* Although may and can are synonyms, can’t and mayn’t (including their uncontracted forms) are not, except when used interrogatively. “You can’t have a console” means you must not have a console, but “you mayn’t have a console” means you are not guaranteed to have a console, with the implication that you still may if you do.
* In some US dialects, the final /t/ in can’t is glottalized (/kæn(ʔ)/), so in order to differentiate can’t from can, speakers pronounce can as /kɛn/ even when stressed.

#### Coordinate terms

* couldn't, mayn't, mightn't, oughtn't, shan't, shouldn't, won't, wouldn't

#### Derived terms

* Republicant
* you can't say fairer than that

#### Translations

    For other translations, see can and not.

#### See also

* Appendix:English modal verbs
* Appendix:English tag questions

### References

* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “can't”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
* ↑ “can't”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
* ↑ Arnold M. Zwicky and Geoffrey K. Pullum, Cliticization vs. Inflection: English n’t, Language 59 (3), 1983, pp. 502-513

### Anagrams

* T-Can, NCTA, anct., TNCA