con - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɒn/
• (General American) enPR: kŏn, IPA^(key): /kɑn/
• Rhymes: -ɒn
• Homophone: conn; (General American) Khan

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.

con (third-person singular simple present cons, present participle conning, simple past and past participle conned)

1. (rare) To study or examine carefully, especially in order to gain knowledge of; to learn, or learn by heart.

   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 125, column 1:

     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.

   • 1815 [1802], William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence:

     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

   • 1795, Edmund Burke, Letter to a Noble Lord on the Attacks Made upon him and his Pension, in the House of Lords, by the Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Lauderdale, Early in the Present Session of Parliament:

     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.

   • 1876 July, Henry James, Jr., “The American”, in The Atlantic Monthly: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics, volume XXXVIII, number CCXXV, Boston, Mass.: H[enry] O[scar] Houghton and Company; New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton; Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, chapter IV, page 17, column 2:

     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.

   • 1893, Stanley J. Weyman, “II. The King of Navarre”, in A Gentleman of France:

     Du Mornay exchanged a few words with me, to assure himself that I understood what I had to do, and then, with many kind expressions, which I did not fail to treasure up and con over in the times that were coming, hastened downstairs after his master.

   • 1963, D'Arcy Niland, Dadda jumped over two elephants: short stories:

     The hawk rested on a crag of the gorge and conned the terrain with a fierce and frowning eye.

2. (rare, obsolete) To know; understand; acknowledge.

• conner
  • aleconner
• couth
• cuddle
• cunning
• cunny
• ken
• unconned

Abbreviation of Latin contra (“against”).

con (plural cons)

1. A disadvantage of something, especially when contrasted with its advantages (pros).

   pros and cons

• disadvantage

• pro

• pros and cons

Clipping of convict.

con (plural cons)

1. (slang) A convicted criminal, a convict.

From con trick, shortened from confidence trick.

con (plural cons)

1. (informal) A fraud; something carried out with the intention of deceiving, usually for personal, often illegal, gain.

   Synonyms: scam; see also Thesaurus:deception

   • 2021 February 23, Rafael Behr, “Brexit is a machine to generate perpetual grievance. It's doing its job perfectly”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     Leavers will be attracted to that story because it spares them the discomfort of admitting that they voted for a con, and then made a prime minister of the con artist.

con (third-person singular simple present cons, present participle conning, simple past and past participle conned)

2. (transitive, informal) To trick, lie or defraud, usually for personal gain.

   Synonyms: (British, Australian) be sold a pup; see also Thesaurus:deceive

   • 2017 July 17, Martin Lukacs, “Neoliberalism has conned us into fighting climate change as individuals”, in The Guardian‎^[3]:

     Neoliberalism has conned us into fighting climate change as individuals [title]

From earlier cond; see conn.

con (third-person singular simple present cons, present participle conning, simple past and past participle conned)

1. Alternative form of conn (“direct a ship”)

con (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of conn (“navigational direction of a ship”)

• take the con

Clipping of convention or conference.

con (plural cons)

1. (informal) An organized gathering, such as a convention, conference, or congress.

   • 1995 September 4, Lindsay Crawford, “Re: Intersection”, in rec.arts.sf.fandom‎^[4] (Usenet), message-ID <9509042250393785@emerald.com>:

     I can't speak for Faye as ed of FHAPA, but it would be really swell of someone could send us a set of Intersection daily newszines, plus any con flyers or other fannish papers that were there to had for the picking up: fannish things, you know, not including media, gaming, filking or costuming, fine fun but not my cup of blog, thank you.

Clipping of conversion.

con (plural cons)

1. (informal) The conversion of part of a building.

   We're getting a loft con done next year.

Clipping of consumption.

con (uncountable)

1. (informal, obsolete) Consumption; pulmonary tuberculosis. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

Origin uncertain. Perhaps a clipping of Middle English acquerne, aquerne, ocquerne, okerne (“squirrel”), from Old English ācweorna, āqueorna, āquorna, ācurna (“squirrel”), from Proto-West Germanic *aikwernō, from Proto-Germanic *aikwernô (“squirrel”); or from its Old Norse cognate íkorni (“squirrel”), from the same ultimate source. Cognate with West Frisian iikhoarn (“squirrel”), Dutch eekhoorn (“squirrel”), German Eichhorn (“squirrel”), Icelandic íkorni (“squirrel”).

• conn

con (plural cons)

1. (dialectal or obsolete) Squirrel, particularly the red squirrel. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
2. (Northern England, obsolete) A squirrel's nest. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

Clipping of conservative; compare lib.

con (plural cons)

1. (abbreviation) A political conservative. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

   own the cons

Clipping of consolidation or consolidated.

con (plural not attested)

1. (business, marketing) Abbreviation of consolidation.: Only used in naming (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

con (not comparable)

1. (business, marketing) Abbreviation of consolidated.: Only used in naming (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

• CNO, NCO, NOC, OCN, ONC, onc

From Latin cum (“with”).

con

1. with

From Latin cum (“with”).

con

1. with

Borrowed from Latin cōnus.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈkɔn]

con m (plural cons)

1. cone

• cònic

Clipping of English contact lens.

con

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) contact lens (Classifier: 隻／只 c; 粒 c; 副 c)

Clipping of happy corner, from English happy corner.

• corn

con

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, chiefly school slang) happy corner

con

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, chiefly school slang) to happy corner

   • 2004, “大學迎新出軌玩Con撞下體”, in 大學線‎^[5]:

     調查顯示，有七成男生是在不情願的情況下被con的。另外，近四成受訪者表示即使「被con者」反抗，也不會停止con人。

     Survey has shown that 70% of males are happy cornered involuntarily. Also, nearly 40% of correspondents states that they would not happy cornering people, even when the one who is happy cornered is resisting.

Clipping of English concert.

con

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) concert (Classifier: 場／场 c)

• 演唱會／演唱会 (yǎnchànghuì)

Clipping of English contest.

con

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, chiefly in compounds) contest

Clipping of English consultation or English consult.

con

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, university slang) to consult or to question a student society candidate before the election

Clipping of English contractor.

con

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) contractor

Clipping of English conference.

con

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, only in compounds) conference

From Latin cum.

con

1. with

From Latin cunnus.

con m

1. (vulgar) vulva, cunt

• cun (Lagarteiru, less common in Valverdeñu)

From Old Galician-Portuguese con, from Latin cum, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm.

• IPA^(key): /kon/
• Rhymes: -on
• Syllabification: con

con

1. (Mañegu, Valverdeñu) with

   Antonym: sin

   • 2000, Domingo Frades Gaspar, Vamus a falal: Notas pâ coñocel y platical en nosa fala, Editora regional da Extremadura, Chapter 2: Númerus:

     Cumu to é custión de proporciós, sin que sirva de argumentu por nun fel falta, poemus vel que en a misma Europa hai Estaus Soberarius con menus territoriu que os tres lugaris nossus, cumu:

     As everything is a matter of proportions, without its presence being an argument, we can see that even in Europe there are Sovereign States with less territory than our three places, such as:

• Valeš, Miroslav (2021) Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web)‎^[6], 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published 2022, →ISBN

Inherited from Latin cunnus, probably ultimately of Proto-Indo-European origin.

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃/

con m (plural cons, feminine conne)

1. (vulgar) cunt, pussy (the female genitalia)
2. (vulgar) arsehole, asshole, fucktard, cunt, retard (stupid person)

   • 2021, Angèle, Plus de sens:

     Comme un con qui dit ce qu’il pense, […] rien n’a plus de sens.

     Like an asshole who says what he thinks, [...] nothing makes sense anymore.

con (feminine conne, masculine plural cons, feminine plural connes)

1. (slang, vulgar) stupid

   Synonym: stupide

• “con”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• onc

• com (reintegrationist)

From Old Galician-Portuguese con, from Latin cum (“with”).

• IPA^(key): /koŋ/ [kʊŋ]
• Rhymes: -oŋ

con

1. with

   Antonym: sen

con

1. and

   Synonym: e

Attested in local Medieval Latin documents as cauno, with a derived cauneto,^[1] from Proto-Celtic *akaunon (“stone”),^[2] from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éḱmō.^[3] Unlikely from Latin cōnus, which should have originated a word with a closed stressed vowel.^[4] Doublet of gouño.

• co, coio

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔŋ/ [ˈkɔŋ]
• Rhymes: -ɔŋ

con m (plural cons)

1. boulder, specially those found semi-submerged at the seashore

   Synonyms: laxe, petón

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “con”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “caun”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “con”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “con”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “con”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

• IPA^(key): /kɔnˠ/

con m sg

1. genitive singular of cú

• IPA^(key): /kon/
• Rhymes: -on
• Hyphenation: con

From Latin cum (“with”), from Proto-Italic *kom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“next to, at, with, along”).

con

1. with, together

   Antonym: senza

2. (rowing) coxed

• When followed by the definite article, con may be combined with the article to produce the following combined forms (marking these combined forms in writing is old-fashioned, and very rarely used apart from col and coi; however, it has always been very common in speech, and it still is):

con + article	Combined form
con + il	col
con + lo	collo
con + l'	coll'
con + i	coi
con + gli	cogli
con + la	colla
con + le	colle

Alternative form of com, apocopic form of come, found before consonants other than ⟨b⟩, ⟨m⟩, ⟨p⟩.

con (apocopated)

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of com, Apocopic form of come

   • 1316–c. 1321, Dante Alighieri, “Canto XXXI”, in Paradiso [Heaven]‎^[7], lines 58–60; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate]‎^[8], 2^nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:

     Uno intendëa, e altro mi rispuose:
     credea veder Beatrice e vidi un sene
     vestito con le genti glorïose.

     One listened, and another one answered me; I thought I saw Beatrice, and I saw an old man, dressed like the [other] glorious people

• con¹ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• con² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• cun (Gherdëina, Badia)

From Latin cum (“with”).

con

1. with

   Antonyms: zenza, zënza

From Latin cum.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuŋ/

con

1. with

con + article	Combined form
con + o	co-o
con + a	co-a
con + i	co-i
con + e	co-e

• IPA^(key): /kon/

con m

1. genitive singular/dual/plural of cú

• còn

From Proto-Vietic *kɔːn, from Proto-Mon-Khmer *kuun or *kuən. Cognates include Old Mon kon, Khmer កូន (koun), Bahnar kon, Vietnamese con.

con

1. (Mường Bi) child

con

1. (Mường Bi) Indicates animals (including the human)

• Hà Quang Phùng (2012 September 6) “Archived copy”, in Tìm hiểu về ngữ pháp tiếng Mường (Thim hiếu wuê ngử pháp thiểng Mường) [Understanding Muong grammar]‎^[9] (FlashPaper; overall work in Vietnamese and Muong), Thanh Sơn–Phú Thọ Province Continuing Education Center, archived from the original on 19 September 2016

From Latin cunnus.

con oblique singular, m (oblique plural cons, nominative singular cons, nominative plural con)

1. (vulgar) cunt (human female genitalia)

• French: con

• landie

con

1. Alternative form of come (“as, like”)

Inherited from Latin cum, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm.

• IPA^(key): /kõ/

con

1. with

• Fala: con
• Galician: con
• Portuguese: com (see there for further descendants)

• IPA^(key): /kon/

con m

1. genitive singular/dual/plural of cú

con

1. Alternative form of co (“so that”)
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 12^c38

     con festar cách

     so that everyone may know

From Latin cum.

• IPA^(key): /kon/

con

1. with

   • c. 1200, Cantar del Mio Cid:

     Çid, en el nuestro mal vos non ganades nada;
     mas ¡el Criador vos vala con todas sus vertudes sanctas!»

     Cid, from our ill you gain nothing;
     but may the Creator protect you with all his holy powers!

• Ladino: kon
• Spanish: con

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʰɔn/

con

1. genitive plural of cù

• Colin Mark (2003) “cù”, in The Gaelic-English dictionary, London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 184

Inherited from Latin cum (“with”), from Proto-Italic *kom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“next to, at, with, along”).

• IPA^(key): /kon/ [kõn]
• Rhymes: -on
• Syllabification: con

con

1. with

   Antonym: sin

2. on

   Yo cuento con ustedes. ― I count on you.

• conmigo
• consigo
• contigo

• “con”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

From Middle Vietnamese con, from Proto-Vietic *kɔːn, from Proto-Mon-Khmer *kuun ~ *kuən. Cognate with Muong còn, Thavung กอน, Mon ကွေန် (kon), Khmer កូន (koun), Bahnar kon, Khasi khun, Central Nicobarese kōan. For semantic relations, compare Chinese 子 (“child; small thing; son”), Japanese 子 (shi, ko, “child; small thing; son; boy; girl”). See also non (“young, juvenile”), which is from an infixed form of the root.

Attested in the Annan Jishi (安南即事, 13th century) as 乾 (MC kan).

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [kɔn˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kɔŋ˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [kɔŋ˧˧]

(classifier đứa) con • (𡥵, 昆)

1. a child (daughter or son)

   con cái ― children

   con nuôi ― an adopted child

   gà con ― a chick

   Con cóc con là con con cóc.

   A toadlet is an offspring of a toad.

   • 1983, Homer, translated by Phan Thị Miến, Ô-đi-xê [The Odyssey]:

     Tê-lê-mác, con ! Đừng làm rầy mẹ, mẹ còn muốn thử thách cha ở tại nhà này. Thế nào rồi mẹ con cũng sẽ nhận ra, chắc chắn như vậy. Hiện giờ cha còn bẩn thỉu, áo quần rách rưới, nên mẹ con khinh cha, chưa nói : “Đích thị là chàng rồi !”. […]

     Telemachus, my son! Don’t you bother your mother, she still wants to put me to trials at this home. She will recognize me eventually, there is no doubt about that. I still look like a rascal, in torn clothes, that is why your mother still doubts me, she is yet to say: “It was definitely you this whole time!”. […]

2. (rare, chiefly in translations of ancient texts) a son

   Antonym: con gái

3. (only in compounds, in fixed expressions) build; stature

con • (𡥵, 昆)

1. (rare, only in compounds) a small thing

   con quay ― a spinning top

   con lắc ― a pendulum

• tử

con • (𡥵, 昆)

1. I/me (used by children when talking to their parents)
2. (chiefly Central Vietnam and Southern Vietnam) I/me (used when talking to someone significantly older than the speaker)
3. you (used by parents when talking to their children)
4. (chiefly Central Vietnam and Southern Vietnam) you (used when talking to some significantly younger than the speaker)

   Là con thật!

   It's you for real!

• Sense (4) is chiefly used in Central and Southern Vietnam, perhaps extensively to North Central Vietnam. In Northern Vietnam, cháu is used instead. Some Northerners, however, do use con, especially when talking to Southern children on Southern TV shows.

• (you (4)): cháu

con

1. Indicates animals (including humans).
2. (disrespectful) Indicates female people.

   Antonym: thằng

   một thằng, hai con ― one guy, two girls

3. Indicates knives, ships, boats, trains and eye pupils.

   con dao ― a knife

4. Indicates roads, rivers, streams and waves.

   trên con đường đến hạnh phúc ― on the road/path to happiness

5. (somewhat literary) Indicates written characters.

   con chữ ― a character or letter

6. (colloquial) Indicates wheeled vehicles.

   Anh mày có hẳn hai con xe Honda đấy nhớ!

   I have two Honda motorbikes!

7. (colloquial) Indicates video games and movies.

   Ông chơi con game này chưa?

   Have you played this game?

• Even though con người is used, it is generally thought of as a noun phrase on its own, and người does not require a classifier because it is itself a classifier (compare Japanese 人 (nin)). Một con người "a person" does not sound dehumanizing, but even literary, while một người sounds casual enough.
• The phrase con người is popularly employed as a philosophical trope or device to bring up discussions about what it means to be human as opposed to being an animal, even though it is not really semantically convincing given the fact that humans are, zoologically, animals, and there are non-animal things going with this classifier.

• cái

Related to Persian جان (jân).

con

1. soul