## Meanings
1. To be able to do something.
2. To be allowed or permitted to do something.
3. Used to make a request, often a polite one.
4. To know how to do something.
5. Used to say that something is possible.

## Examples
- Can you remember your fifth birthday?
- You can go outside and play when you have finished your homework.
- Can you please come over here for a moment?
- She can speak English, French, and German.
- This road can get very busy during rush hour.

## Synonyms
- dump
- junk
- sack
- scrap
- stifle

## Derived Forms
- ashcan
- can-do
- can-do-ness
- can-doer
- can-eater
- can-kicking
- canakin
- candock
- canful
- canhouse
- cankin
- canlike

## Related Forms
- can-can
- cancan
- obama-can
- obamacan

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *ǵneh₃-
- Root: can
- Root: cann
- Root: *kunnan
- Root: *kunnaną

## 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.

## AI Etymology
Can comes 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.

## Topics
- Grammar & Function Words

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