could
/kəd/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 6.06 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
simple past of can
verb
conditional of can
verb
conditional of can
verb
conditional of can
verb
conditional of can
verb
conditional of can
verb
past participle of can
noun
Something that could happen, or could be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality.
Example Sentences
- "Before I was blind, I could see very well."
- "When I was young everybody could easily find a job in a matter of days."
- "When I was your age, I could run 10mi in under an hour."
- "I could only find the street, but I couldn't locate his house."
- ""If I'd had a paddle I could've spun by that dashed root," Meekins said, feeling some apology due for the mishap. "When I first climbed out of that fool creek I thought my arm had got twisted off, but I guess it ain't.""
- "I think he could do it if he really wanted to."
Etymology
From Middle English coude, couthe, cuthe, from Old English cūþe, past indicative and past subjunctive form of cunnan (“to be able”) (compare related cūþ, whence English couth). Cognate with German konnte, Swedish kunde. The -l- in the spelling was added in the early 16th century by analogy with should and would; this analogy formerly affected the pronunciation as well and was probably assisted by the tendency for /l/ to be lost in those words (and so not written, leading to shudd, wode, etc).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *ǵneh₃-, coude, cūþe