con
/kɑn/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.28 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To study or examine carefully, especially in order to gain knowledge of; to learn, or learn by heart.
noun
A disadvantage of something, especially when contrasted with its advantages (pros).
noun
A fraud; something carried out with the intention of deceiving, usually for personal, often illegal, gain.
Informal
verb
Alternative form of conn (“direct a ship”).
Example Sentences
- "For Caſſius is a-weary of the World: / Hated by one he loues, brau'd by his Brother, / Check'd like a bondman, all his faults obſeru'd, / Set in a Note-booke, learn'd, and con'd by roate / To caſt into my Teeth."
- "At length, himself unsettling, he the pond / Stirred with his staff, and fixedly did look / Upon the muddy water, which he conned, / As if he had been reading in a book"
- "I did not come into parliament to con my lesson. I had earned my pension before I set my foot in St. Stephen's chapel."
- "During these delectable entertainments, Miss Wirt and the chaperon sate by, and conned over the peerage, and talked about the nobility."
- "He read old almanacs at the book-stalls on the quays, and he began to frequent another café, where more newspapers were taken and his post-prandial demi-tasse cost him a penny extra, and where he used to con the tattered sheets for curious anecdotes, freaks of nature, and strange coincidences."
- "One day, however, when he had been conning one of his music-scores, and by force of imagination was hearing the tune in his head, he lapsed into listlessness, and the music-sheet rolled to the hearth."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- Proto-Indo-European *-né- Proto-Indo-European *ǵn̥néh₃ti Proto-Germanic *kunnaną Proto-West Germanic *kunnan Old English cunnan Middle English connen English con Inherited from Middle English connen, inherited from Old English cunnan (“to know, know how”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kunnan (“recognize, know how”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *kunnaną (“to know, know how”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”) Doublet of can.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /kɑn/
- British English: /kɒn/
Usage
- Obsolete
- Slang
- Informal
- Transitive verb
- Uncountable
- British usage