English

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Etymology

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From re- +‎ can.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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recan (third-person singular simple present recans, present participle recanning, simple past and past participle recanned)

  1. (transitive) To can (place in a can) again or anew.

Anagrams

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Old English

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Etymology 1

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The spelling of this entry has been normalized from reċċan according to the principles established by Wiktionary's editor community or recent spelling standards of the language.

From Proto-West Germanic *rōkijan, from Proto-Germanic *rōkijaną. Cognate with Old Saxon rōkian, Old High German ruohhen, Old Norse rǿkja (to care, to pay heed to).

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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rēċan

  1. to care
    • c. 1005, Ælfric, Letter to Sigeweard[1]:
      Þis man mæġ rǣdan, sē þe his rēcþ tō ġehīerenne, on þǣre Engliscan bēċ þe iċ āwende be þissum.
      Anyone can read about this, if they care to hear it, in the book on this topic that I translated into English.
    • c. 996, Ælfric's Lives of Saints
      Hingwar sende þā sōna siþþan Ēadmunde cyninge bēotlīċ ǣrende: þæt hē ābūgan sċolde tō his manrǣdene ġif hē rōhte his fēores.
      After that, Ivar immediately sent a gloating message to King Edmund: that he should submit to serving Ivar if he valued his life.
Usage notes
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  • Rēċan usually takes an object in the genitive: Mīn sunu rēcþ mæġdena ("My son cares about girls"), Rīċe menn ūre ne rēċaþ ("Rich people don't care about us").
  • Verbs following rēċan are subjunctive in an indirect question: Wē ne rēċaþ hwæt menn seċġen ("We don't care what people say"), Hwæt rēcst þū hwæt ōðre menn wēnen? Þū wāst sōþ ("What do you care what other people think? You know the truth").
  • The present tense and infinitive stem of this verb appears to have merged with that of reċċan before the written period, with gemination of the coda resulting in shortening (and unrounding of the vowel, even in Anglian). The cause of this gemination is unexplained; compare lǣċan, but also sēċan[2]
Conjugation
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Descendants
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  • English: reck

Etymology 2

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From Proto-West Germanic *rekan, from Proto-Germanic *rekaną.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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recan

  1. to go quickly, go wildly, hasten, run
  2. to come, go
Conjugation
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Descendants
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