Word.ws English Dictionary

cain't

/keɪnt/

cain't is the nonstandard form of can't.

Meaning of can't

Verb

can't

  1. Cannot (negative modal auxiliary); be unable to; not have the ability to (whether due to lacking relevant strength or skill or knowledge or supplies, or due to logical impossibility, etc).
    • I can’t quite get it to work.
    Antonyms:
    be able to, can
  2. To be forbidden to; to be not permitted to.
    • You can’t enter the hall without a ticket.
    Antonyms:
    be able to, can, have to, must
  3. (euphemistic, slang) To be unwilling to; to not have the desire of; to don’t want to.
    • Will you come to dinner with us tonight? Can't; already have plans this evening.

Origin of cain't

A variant spelling of can't, representing the pronunciation of this word in the southern United States.

Words that rhyme with cain't

10 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about cain't

What is cain't the nonstandard form of?
Cain't is the nonstandard form of can't.
How do you pronounce cain't?
Cain't is pronounced /keɪnt/.

Words near cain't in the dictionary

  1. caimitillo
  2. caimitillos
  3. caimito
  4. caimitos
  5. cain
  6. cain't
  7. Cainamero
  8. Cainameros
  9. cainca
  10. Caine
  11. Caines

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cain't (page history and authors); can't (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-US-southern-dialectical-can't.ogg.

Cite this entry: “cain't.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cain%27t. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.