can't

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See also: cant, cânt, çant, ca'n't, and Cant.

English

Etymology

can +‎ -n't, since 1706[1] or earlier.[2]

Pronunciation

  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "AU" is not valid. See WT:LOL. enPR: känt, IPA(key): /kaːnt/, [kʰäːnt]
    • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL. enPR: känt, IPA(key): /kɑːnt/, [kʰɑːnt]
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "Scotland" is not valid. See WT:LOL. enPR: känt
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "most US speakers" is not valid. See WT:LOL. enPR: kănt, IPA(key): /kænt/, /kæn(ʔ)/
    • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "ae-tensing" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA(key): [kʰeənt]
    • Audio (US)(file)
    • Rhymes: -ænt
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "Southern US" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA(key): [kʰeɪnt]
  • Homophones: cant, Kant (in some dialects)

Verb

can't

  1. Cannot (negative auxiliary[3]); is unable to; does not have the ability to.
    I can’t quite get it to work.
  2. Is forbidden to; is not permitted to.
    You can’t enter the hall without a ticket.
  3. Often with be: is logically impossible.
    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

  • 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.

Antonyms

Translations

cannot — see cannot
For other translations, see can and not.

See also

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “can't”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. ^ “can't”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  3. ^ Arnold M. Zwicky and Geoffrey K. Pullum, Cliticization vs. Inflection: English n’t, Language 59 (3), 1983, pp. 502-513

Anagrams

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