WordCodex

can

See also: Variations of "can"

can - English

Alternative forms

  • canne (obsolete)
  • kin (pronunciation spelling)

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?
  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.
  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.

Usage notes

  • 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.

Conjugation

infinitive —
present tense past tense
1st-person singular can could, coulde†
2nd-person singular can, canst†, canest†, cannest† could, couldst†, couldest†, could'st†
3rd-person singular can, canneth† could, coulde†
plural can
subjunctive can could, coulde†
imperative can† —
participles canning† could*, coulde†

†Archaic or obsolete. * Dialectal.

Derived terms

Translations

Pronunciation

  • (General Australian, Southern England) IPA: /ˈkæːn/
  • (æ-tensing) IPA: [ˈkeən]

Noun

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.
  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, in the plural) Headphones.
  8. (archaic) A drinking cup.
  9. (nautical) A cube-shaped buoy or marker used to denote a port-side lateral mark
  10. A chimney pot.
  11. (slang, in the plural) An E-meter used in Scientology auditing.
  12. (US, slang) An ounce (or sometimes, two ounces) of marijuana.
  13. A protective cover for the fuel element in a nuclear reactor.

Synonyms

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

Hyponyms

Hyponyms of can (Etymology 2)

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.
  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.
  6. (golf, slang, transitive) To hole the ball.
  7. (transitive) To cover (the fuel element in a nuclear reactor) with a protective cover.

Conjugation

infinitive (to) can
present tense past tense
1st-person singular can canned
2nd-person singular
3rd-person singular cans
plural can
subjunctive can canned
imperative can —
participles canning canned

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

can - Afar

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈħan/, [ˈħʌn]
  • Hyphenation: can

Noun

cán m (plural caanowá f or canooná f)

  1. milk

Declension

Declension of cán

can - Aragonese

Noun

can m (plural cans)

  1. dog

can - Asturian

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈkan/, [ˈkãŋ]

Noun

can m (plural canes)

  1. dog (animal)

Synonyms

can - Azerbaijani

Pronunciation

  • IPA: [d͡ʒɑn], [d͡zɑn]

Noun

can (definite accusative canı, plural canlar)

  1. soul, spirit
  2. being, creature, life
  3. body (in expressions concerning body sensations)
  4. force, vigour
  5. life (the state of organisms preceding their death)
    • canını almaq ― to kill (literally, “to take the life of”)

Declension

    Declension of can
    Possessive forms of can

Derived terms

can - Catalan

Pronunciation

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

Contraction

can

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

can - Chinese

Pronunciation

  • Cantonese (Jyutping): ken6, ken6-2

Noun

can

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

can - Classical Nahuatl

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kaːn/

Pronoun

cān

  1. where

Derived terms

can - Galician

Alternative forms

  • cão (reintegrationist)
  • cam (reintegrationist)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /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

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈkaŋ/

Noun

can m (plural cans)

  1. how

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈkaŋ/

Noun

can m (plural cans)

  1. khan

can - Interlingua

Noun

can (plural canes)

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

can - Irish

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kanˠ/

Verb

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

  1. to sing

Conjugation

singular plural relative autonomous
first second third first second third
indicative present canaim canann tú; canair† canann sé, sí canaimid canann sibh canann siad; canaid† a chanann; a chanas / a gcanann*; a gcanas* cantar
past chan mé; chanas chan tú; chanais chan sé, sí chanamar; chan muid chan sibh; chanabhair chan siad; chanadar a chan / ar chan* canadh
past habitual chanainn / gcanainn‡‡ chantá / gcantᇇ chanadh sé, sí / gcanadh sé, s퇇 chanaimis; chanadh muid / gcanaimis‡‡; gcanadh muid‡‡ chanadh sibh / gcanadh sibh‡‡ chanaidís; chanadh siad / gcanaidís‡‡; gcanadh siad‡‡ a chanadh / a gcanadh* chantaí / gcanta퇇
future canfaidh mé; canfad canfaidh tú; canfair† canfaidh sé, sí canfaimid; canfaidh muid canfaidh sibh canfaidh siad; canfaid† a chanfaidh; a chanfas / a gcanfaidh*; a gcanfas* canfar
conditional chanfainn / gcanfainn‡‡ chanfá / gcanfᇇ chanfadh sé, sí / gcanfadh sé, s퇇 chanfaimis; chanfadh muid / gcanfaimis‡‡; gcanfadh muid‡‡ chanfadh sibh / gcanfadh sibh‡‡ chanfaidís; chanfadh siad / gcanfaidís‡‡; gcanfadh siad‡‡ a chanfadh / a gcanfadh* chanfaí / gcanfa퇇
subjunctive present go gcana mé; go gcanad† go gcana tú; go gcanair† go gcana sé, sí go gcanaimid; go gcana muid go gcana sibh go gcana siad; go gcanaid† — go gcantar
past dá gcanainn dá gcantá dá gcanadh sé, sí dá gcanaimis; dá gcanadh muid dá gcanadh sibh dá gcanaidís; dá gcanadh siad — dá gcantaí
imperative canaim can canadh sé, sí canaimis canaigí; canaidh† canaidís — cantar
verbal noun canadh
past participle canta

* Indirect relative † Archaic or dialect form ‡‡ Dependent form used with particles that trigger eclipsis

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
can chan gcan
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

can - Istriot

Noun

can m

  1. dog

can - Italian

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈkan/
  • Hyphenation: càn

Alternative forms

Noun

can m (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete) Alternative spelling of khan

Noun

can m (apocopated)

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

can - Ligurian

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kaŋ/

Noun

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

  1. dog, male dog

can - Lombard

Noun

can

  1. dog

can - 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.

can - Middle Dutch

Verb

can

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

can - Middle English

Noun

can

  1. Alternative form of canne

Verb

can

  1. Alternative form of cunnen

can - Northern Kurdish

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /d͡ʒɑːn/

Noun

can ?

  1. soul

can - Occitan

Noun

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

  1. dog, hound

can - Old Galician-Portuguese

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈkã/

Noun

can m

  1. dog

Descendants

can - Old Occitan

Alternative forms

Conjunction

can

  1. when

Adverb

can

  1. (interrogative) when

Descendants

can - Scots

Verb

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

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

Derived terms

can - Scottish Gaelic

Verb

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

  1. to say
  2. to sing (a song)
  3. future indicative dependent of can

Usage notes

  • In most dialects of Scottish Gaelic still spoken, with the notable exception of Islay, the future and conditional tenses and the imperative form are very often used for the verb abair in place of the actual abair forms, particularly in colloquial language. The past tense, however, is much less common.

can - Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈkan/ [ˈkãn]
  • Syllabification: can

Noun

can m (plural canes)

  1. (formal) dog, hound

Hypernyms

Hyponyms

can - Turkish

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /dʒɑn/

Noun

can (definite accusative canı, plural canlar)

  1. soul, life, being
  2. sweetheart

Declension

Inflection
Nominative can
Definite accusative canı

can - Venetian

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kaŋ/

Noun

can m (plural cani)

  1. (Belluno, Chipilo) dog

can - Vietnamese

Pronunciation

Noun

can

  1. (alternative medicine) liver

Noun

can

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

Verb

can

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

Verb

can

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

Noun

(classifier cây, cái) can

  1. walking stick

Verb

can

  1. to join; to unite; to sew together

Verb

can

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

Derived terms

Derived terms

can - Volapük

Noun

can (nominative plural cans)

  1. sales commodity, merchandise, wares

Declension

singular plural
nominative can cans
genitive cana canas
dative cane canes
accusative cani canis
vocative 1 o can! o cans!
predicative 2 canu canus
  • 1 status as a case is disputed
  • 2 in later, non-classical Volapük only

can - Welsh

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kan/

Adjective

can (feminine singular can, plural can, equative canned, comparative cannach, superlative cannaf)

  1. bleached, white

Noun

can m (plural caniau)

  1. flour

Derived terms

  • cannaid (“bright, refulgent”)
  • cannu (“to bleach, to whiten”)

Numeral

can

  1. (cardinal number) Apocopic form of cant (“one hundred”)

Usage notes

  • This is the form the number cant (“one hundred”) takes when it precedes a noun.

Noun

can m (plural caniau)

  1. a can

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radicalsoftnasalaspirate
can gan nghan chan
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

can - Yucatec Maya

Numeral

can

  1. Obsolete spelling of kan

Noun

can

  1. Obsolete spelling of kaan
Meaning and Definition of can
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