could

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   simple past of can

   Before I was blind, I could see very well.

2. 2
   verb

   conditional of can

   I think he could do it if he really wanted to.

3. 3
   verb

   past participle of can

   I haven't could sleep.

4. 4
   noun

   Something that could happen, or could be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality.

   When the golf ball is there, the whole self-interference package — the hopes, worries, and fears; the thoughts on how-to and how-not-to; the woulds, the coulds, and the shoulds — is there too.

Etymology

From Middle English coude, couthe, cuthe, from Old English cūþe, past indicative and past subjunctive form of cunnan (“to be able”) (compare related cūþ, whence English couth). Cognate with German konnte, Swedish kunde. The -l- in the spelling was added in the early 16th century by analogy with should and would; this analogy formerly affected the pronunciation as well and was probably assisted by the tendency for /l/ to be lost in those words (and so not written, leading to shudd, wode, etc).