Cannot

How to spell cannot

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce cannot

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cannot mean?

1. verbUsed to say that something is not possible or not allowed; the negative form of can.

Cannot in a sentence

• The bank cannot release the funds until the cheque clears.

• We cannot afford the rent on a single salary.

Where does cannot come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Cannot is simply the verb can joined to the negator not, written as one solid word. Can descends from Old English cunnan, which originally meant 'to know' or 'to know how to', so an early speaker who could do something literally 'knew' how to do it; that sense of knowing how survives in the modern idea of ability. Not comes from Old English nawiht or noht, meaning 'nothing' or 'in no way', itself a contraction of na ('no') and wiht ('thing'). Writers began fusing the two into the single word cannot during the 1400s and 1500s, and the one-word form became the standard written choice, even though the spaced 'can not' is still occasionally used for emphasis. The single closed-up spelling is the part adults second-guess, since most English negations (do not, will not, should not) stay as two words.

How the word is built

• can (be able to)
• not (negation), fused into a single word