can
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: /t/
[kæn(ʔ)]
/kɛn/
Forms: form: can
form: able
form: could
form: couth
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: -
form: can
form: could
form: can
form: canst
form: cannest
form: could
form: couldst
form: couldest
form: could'st
form: can
form: canneth
form: could
form: can
form: could
form: can
form: could
form: can
form: -
form: canning
form: could
form: canne
form: kin
Etymology: 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.
Senses: examples: text: She can speak English, French, and German.
text: I can play football.
text: 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.
ref: 1449, Reginald Pecock, Represser of over-much weeting [blaming] of the Clergie:
text: If thou canst awake by four o' the clock, / I prithee call me. Sleep hath seized me wholly.
ref: 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]:
antonyms: cannot
can't
glosses: To know how to.
examples: text: Can you remember your fifth birthday?
text: Animals can experience emotions.
text: Can you hear that?
text: I can feel the baby moving inside me.
text: 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.
ref: 2013 July–August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist:
synonyms: be able to
antonyms: cannot
can't
glosses: To be able to.
examples: text: You can go outside and play when you're finished with your homework.
text: Can I use your pen?
synonyms: may
antonyms: cannot
can't
may not
mayn't
glosses: May; to be permitted or enabled to.
examples: text: Can it be Friday already?
text: Teenagers can really try their parents' patience.
text: 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?
ref: 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
text: Teenagers can be so cruel, and nicknames cut deep.
ref: 2009, Annette Sym, Simply Too Good to be True, Greenleaf Book Group, →ISBN, page 4:
antonyms: cannot
can't
glosses: To have the potential to; to be possible for (someone or something) to.
examples: text: Can you please come over here?
text: Can we try that scene again?
glosses: Used to form requests, typically polite.
examples: text: ca.1360-1387, William Langland, Piers Plowman
I can rimes of Robin Hood.
text: ca.1360-1387, William Langland, Piers Plowman
I can no Latin, quod she.
text: Let the priest in surplice white, / That defunctive music can.
ref: 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC:
synonyms: cognize
grok
ken
glosses: To know.
examples: text: Importance of Identifying Leaf: Identify Plants: If we can able to identify leaf, we can easily able to identify plants.
ref: 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:
text: 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[…]
ref: 2018 February 15, Asha Bajpai, Child Rights in India: Law, Policy, and Practice, Oxford University Press, →ISBN:
text: It can possible to design the ruleset refreshes that allow them to subsequently run at precise interludes and these keep informed.
ref: 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:
glosses: To be (followed by a word like able, possible, allowed). third-person singular simple present indicative of can
examples: text: Can anot?
translation: You good? Need help?
english: You good? Need help?
glosses: To be able to or know how to (do something); an accompanying verb is not required if it is already inferable from context.
examples: text: Can liao, don’t need to use so much glue.
translation: That’s enough glue already.
english: That’s enough glue already.
text: We have been doing this for 50 years, we have shown you what we can do. If I say can, means can. […]
ref: 2015 September 5, Derrick Ho, Chew Hui Min, Lee Min Kok, Shea Driscoll, Nilanjana Sengupta, Melissa Heng, Ong Hwee Hwee, quoting Lee Hsien Loong, “GE2015: 5 things about the third night of rallies on Sept 4”, in The Straits Times:
text: It’s further exacerbated by well-intentioned but misguided relatives who say, “you’re from School X, can one lah”, or worse, those who associate the very identity of being a student in an elite academy into a label analogous with expectations of high achievements.
ref: 2021 August 5, Zat Astha, “The Lessons We’re Still Learning Too Slowly About Mental Health and Suicide”, in ricemedia.co, archived from the original on 11 Dec 2024:
text: When controversial KOL Sylvia Chan resurfaced in March as a life coach, the general online sentiment was, “Huh, can meh?”
ref: 2024 June 10, Kimberly Lim, “What’s With Singapore’s Surge in Self-Proclaimed Life Coaches?”, in ricemedia.co, archived from the original on 19 Sep 2024:
glosses: To be fine or acceptable; to be possible; (with liao or already) to be enough. Often used in conjunction with a variety of clause-final particles, e.g., lah, meh or one, to express different attitudes towards the subject matter.
Derived terms: as best as one can
because one can
before one can blink
can but hope
can-do
can-doer
can-do-ness
can do with
can haz
can is can
can I smoke
can not
can too
can wait
can you not
could not get elected dogcatcher
nice work if you can get it
no can do
nothing gold can stay
one bad apple can spoil the barrel
one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch
the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must
unable to can
what can I do you for
what can I say
what can I tell you
what can one do
what can you do