cain't

/keɪnt/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.60 in modern English

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

contraction

"Stands to reason, the Mexican government, they cain’t persuade any real Mexican priests to travel all the way to Texas. Those hanker after the fleshpots of the big city. So the oney priests they can get to work in land s’far away are Irishmen who cain’t make no livin’ in Ireland, and who cain’t speak a word of Spanish neither, if’n you ask me."

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

fresh as paint

Questions

How do you pronounce cain't?

The recorded pronunciation is /keɪnt/.

What does cain't mean?

Nonstandard form of can't.

Where does cain't come from?

How to pronounce cain't

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “cain't”.

Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/keɪnt/) so you know which sounds to aim for.

Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “cain't”.

Repeat and practice — Say “cain't” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.