can't
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English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From can + -n't, since 1706[1] or earlier.[2]
Pronunciation
[edit]- enPR: känt, IPA(key): /kɑːnt/
- (Received Pronunciation, Southern England, General South African) IPA(key): [kɑːnt]
Audio (Received Pronunciation): (file)
- (Northern England, Wales) IPA(key): [kɑːnt], [käːnt]
- (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): [kɐːnt]
Audio (General Australian): (file)
- (India) IPA(key): [kaːɳʈ]
- (Ireland) IPA(key): [kaːnt]
- (some US speakers) IPA(key): [kɑnt]
- Rhymes: -ɑːnt
- (Received Pronunciation, Southern England, General South African) IPA(key): [kɑːnt]
- enPR: kănt, IPA(key): /kænt/
- (General American, Canada) IPA(key): [kænt~kɛənt~keənt], /kæn(ʔ)/
Audio (General American): (file)
- (New York City, New Orelans, Philadelphia, Baltimore) IPA(key): /kɛənt/
- (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA(key): [käːnt]
- Homophones: cant, Kant (in some dialects)
- Rhymes: -ænt
- (General American, Canada) IPA(key): [kænt~kɛənt~keənt], /kæn(ʔ)/
- enPR: kānt, IPA(key): /keɪnt/
- (Southern US) IPA(key): [kʰẽɪ̃nt], [kʰẽɪ̃n(ʔ)]
Audio (Southern US): (file)
- Rhymes: -eɪnt
- (Southern US) IPA(key): [kʰẽɪ̃nt], [kʰẽɪ̃n(ʔ)]
Verb
[edit]can't
- Cannot (negative auxiliary[3]); 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
[edit]- 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.
- 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.
Coordinate terms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]cannot — see cannot
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “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
[edit]Categories:
- English terms suffixed with -n't
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɑːnt
- Rhymes:English/ɑːnt/1 syllable
- English terms with homophones
- Rhymes:English/ænt
- Rhymes:English/ænt/1 syllable
- Rhymes:English/eɪnt
- English non-lemma forms
- English verb forms
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English auxiliary verb forms
- English contractions
- English defective verbs