Word.ws English Dictionary

cap'n

/ˈkæpn̩/

cap'n is the contraction of captain used as a title.

Noun capitalized: Cap'n

Cap'n (plural Cap'ns)

  1. (abbreviation, contraction, informal) Contraction of Captain.
    • The cynical assert that Cap'ns Edwards and Felix and the rest of them don't know a bull whale when they see one, and that the chances are that Father Whale is the missing member of the family.1921 December 25, “BABY WHALE JOINS ITS DAD. So Says Cap'n Edwards, but Amagansett Has Doubts.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the...
    • HE WAS a fine pirate, in the best piratical tradition, and stood outside our local toy library.1992 October 27, Adrian Leftwich, “A serious offence, piracy: When Cap'n Hook vanished one day, Adrian Leftwich investigated”, in The Independent, London: Independent News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC...

Forms of cap'n

pluralcap'ns
pluralCap'ns

Words formed from cap'n

Questions about cap'n

What is cap'n the contraction of?
Cap'n is the contraction of captain used as a title.
What part of speech is cap'n?
Cap'n is a noun.
How do you pronounce cap'n?
Cap'n is pronounced /ˈkæpn̩/ (US).
What is the plural of cap'n?
The plural of cap'n is cap'ns.

Words near cap'n in the dictionary

  1. cap table
  2. cap tables
  3. cap up
  4. cap'in
  5. cap'ins
  6. cap'n
  7. Cap'n Obvious
  8. cap'ns
  9. cap-a-pee
  10. cap-a-pie
  11. cap-apée

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cap'n (page history and authors); Cap'n (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-cap'n.ogg.

Cite this entry: “cap'n.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cap%27n. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.