not

See also: Not, NOT, nòt, nót, nôt, nốt, nőt, not., and Appendix:Variations of "not"

English

Etymology

From Middle English not, nat, variant of noght, naht (“not, nothing”), from Old English *nōht, nāht (“nought, nothing”), short for nōwiht, nāwiht (“nothing”, literally “not anything”), corresponding to ne (“not”) + ōwiht, āwiht (“anything”), corresponding to ā (“ever, always”) + wiht (“thing, creature”).

Cognate with Scots nat, naucht (“not”), Saterland Frisian nit (“not”), West Frisian net (“not”), Dutch niet (“not”), German nicht (“not”). Compare nought, naught and aught. More at no, wight, whit.

Pronunciation

• (UK)
  • IPA^(key): /nɒt/, [nɔt], [nɒt], [nɒʔ(t)]

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

  • Audio (London):

    (file)

• (US)
  • IPA^(key): /nɑt/, [nɑ̈ʔt̚]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Ireland)
  • IPA^(key): [nɞʔt]
  • (Local Dublin) IPA^(key): /näʔ/
• (General Australian)
  • IPA^(key): /nɔt/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): [nɒːt ~ nɔt]
  • (Dialectal, unstressed) IPA^(key): [nət]
• Homophone: knot
• Homophones: naught, nought (cot–caught merger)
• Rhymes: -ɒt

Adverb

not (not comparable)

1. Negates the meaning of the modified verb.
   • 1973 November 17, Richard Milhous Nixon, Orlando press conference:

     People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got.

   • 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, →OCLC, section I, page 42:

     The sound of Abba singing ‘Dancing Queen’ had started up in a room the other side of the court. Adrian slammed the window shut.
     ‘That’ll teach you to throw things out of the window,’ said Gary.
     ‘It’ll teach me not to throw things out of the window.’

   • 1998 January 26, William Jefferson Clinton, White House press conference:

     I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.

   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Oh, Pete. This is not the gym. — That’s right, Anna. This is the mailroom.

     Audio (US):

     (file)

   Did you take out the trash? No, I did not.

   Not knowing any better, I went ahead.

2. To no degree.
   • 1984 December 22, John Stout, “Home for the Holidays: Survival Strategies for Gays”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 23, page 5:

     Expectation: Everybody in the family has to love everybody else.
     Reaction: Not the ghost of Christmas past, present, or future could pull this one off unless feeling is already there.

   That is not red; it's green.

   It's not you, it's me.

3. (litotes) Used to indicate the opposite or near opposite, often in a form of understatement.

   That day was not the best day of my life. (meaning the day was bad or awful)

   It was not my favorite movie of all time. (meaning the speaker dislikes or strongly dislikes the movie)

   In the not too distant future my view on the matter might be not a million miles away from yours.

4. Used before a determiner phrase, a pronominal phrase etc. to convey a negative attitude (e.g. denial, sadness, anger) towards something.

   Oh god, not that! Anything but that!

   Not another rainy day!

   Won't you come with me?" "Certainly not."

5. (ironic, informal, originally African-American Vernacular) Used before a non-finite clause (especially a gerund-participial clause) or less commonly a determiner phrase to ironically convey some attitude (e.g. surprise, incredulity, amusement, embarrassment) towards something. [attested since the late 2000s, popularized around 2020]

   Not me writing example sentences again. ― Oh my, there I go writing example sentences again!

   • 2023 July 8, @brielarson [Brie Larson], Twitter‎^[1]:

     Not me crying by the end of that!! You are a brilliant, beautiful human who deserves no less than the world. Thank you for taking the time to watch unicorn store. It’s a film that means so much to me.

   • 2023 December 9, “Keke Palmer and Darius Jackson: A Complete Relationship Timeline”, in Glamour‎^[2]:

     [Keke] Palmer tells Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager to “mind y'all's business” when they ask about her relationship with [Darius] Jackson. ¶ “Not y’all trying to get into it! They trying it on the Today show,” Palmer joked when the subject was first brought up on Today With Hoda & Jenna.

Usage notes

In modern usage, do-support requires that the form do not ... (or don’t ...) be preferred to ... not for all but a short list of verbs (be, have, can, shall, will, would, may, must, need, ought):

• They do not sow. (modern) vs. They sow not. (KJB)

American usage tends to prefer don’t have or haven’t got to have not or haven’t, except when have is used as an auxiliary (or in the idiom have-not):

• I don’t have a clue or I haven’t got a clue. (US)
• I haven’t a clue or I haven’t got a clue. (outside US)
• I haven’t been to Spain. (universal)

The verb need is only directly negated when used as an auxiliary; this usage is rare in the US but common elsewhere.

• You don’t need to trouble yourself. (common in US)
• You needn’t trouble yourself. (common outside US)
• I don’t need any eggs today. (universal)

The verb dare can sometimes be directly negated.

• I daren't do that.

The verb do, as a main verb, takes do not.

• He does not do that.

In the imperative, all verbs, including be, take do not.

• Don't do that.
• Don't be silly. (not *Be not silly.)

In the infinitive, verbs must be negated directly. In this case not cannot appear after the verb; some authorities recommend placing it before to to avoid a split infinitive, but for most speakers the forms not to do and to not do are more or less interchangeable, with the latter being mostly informal.

• The objective is not to lose or The objective is to not lose.
• I wanted not to go or I wanted to not go. (Note the difference between this and I didn't want to go, where want is the verb being negated.)

In the subjunctive mood, do-support is not used for negation; not is placed by itself, or with should, immediately before the verb it modifies, even be:

• They suggested that he (should) not do it.
• The law requires that it (should) not be done.

Derived terms

• could not get elected dogcatcher
• not again
• not to put too fine a point on it

Related terms

negates meaning of verb

• ain't
• aren't
• can't
• cannot
• daren't
• doesn't
• don't
• didn't
• forget-me-not
• hadn't
• hasn't
• have-not
• haven't
• isn't
• mightn't
• needn't
• neither
• no
• nor
• not bad
• not guilty
• not quite
• not think
• notwithstanding
• shan't
• shouldn't
• wasn't
• won't
• wouldn't

Translations

negates meaning of verb

• Acehnese: hana
• Afrikaans: nie (af), nie ... nie
• Albanian: nuk (sq), s'
• Amharic: አይደለም (ʾäydäläm)
• Apache:

  Western Apache: dawǫ́’

• Arabic: لَا (ar) (lā), (past tense, continuous present) مَا (ar) (mā), (only past tense, imperfective) لَم (ar) (lam), (future tense) لَن (ar) (lan), (verb "to not be") لَيْسَ (laysa)

  Egyptian Arabic: مش (miš, muš)

  Gulf Arabic: موب (mūb)

  Hijazi Arabic: مو (mū), ما (mā)

  Moroccan Arabic: ماشي (māši)

  North Levantine Arabic: مش (miš) (Lebanon), مو (mū) (Syria)

  South Levantine Arabic: مش (miš, muš)

  Tunisian Arabic: مش (muš)

• Aramaic:

  Western/Levantine Aramaic: לָא (lā)

• Armenian: չ- (čʻ-) + (verb)
• Aromanian: nu
• Assamese: নহয় (nohoy), ন- (no-), না (na)
• Asturian: nun (ast)
• Azerbaijani: deyil (az)
• Bashkir: түгел (tügel)
• Basque: ez (eu)
• Bavarian: niad, ned, net, nit, it
• Belarusian: не (be) (nje), ня (nja) (not standard in writing, despite common unstressed pronunciation)
• Bengali: না (bn) (na)
• Bhojpuri: नाहीं (nāhī̃)
• Bikol Central: bako (bcl)
• Brunei Malay: endah
• Bulgarian: не (bg) (ne)
• Burmese: မ ... ဘူး (ma. ... bhu:)
• Carpathian Rusyn: не (ne)
• Catalan: no (ca), no ... pas
• Cebuano: dili
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ^{(please verify)} ⵓⵔ (ur) + verb, ^{(please verify)} ⵓⵔⴷ (urd) + noun, pronoun
• Central Huishui Hmong: tsis
• Chamicuro: kala
• Chechen: ца (ca)
• Cherokee: Ꮭ (chr) (tla)
• Chichewa: osati
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 不 (yue) (bat¹), 唔 (yue) (m⁴) (vernacular)

  Dungan: бу (bu)

  Eastern Min: 伓 (n̂g)

  Hakka: 唔 (m̀)

  Hokkien: 無／无 (zh-min-nan) (bô)

  Mandarin: 不 (zh) (bù), (past tense, or with 有) 沒／没 (zh) (méi), 沒有／没有 (zh) (méiyǒu), 別／别 (zh) (bié) (only for "don't"), 無／无 (zh) (wú), 未 (zh) (wèi), 非 (zh) (fēi)

  Wu: 勿

  Xiang: 不 (bu⁶)

• Corsican: micca
• Czech: ne- (cs)
• Danish: ikke (da), ej
• Dutch: niet (nl)
• East Central German: nich, net, ni, nicht, ne, nit
• Egyptian: nj
• Enga: daa
• Esperanto: ne (eo)
• Estonian: ei (et)
• Faroese: ikki (fo), ei
• Finnish: ei (fi)
• French: ne ... pas, pas (fr), ne (fr) (see entries for usage)
• Galician: non (gl)
• Georgian: არ (ar)
• German: nicht (de)

  Alemannic German: net, nit, nüt, nöt

• Greek: δε (el) (de), δεν (el) (den), μη (el) (mi), μην (el) (min)

  Ancient: οὐ (ou), μή (mḗ)

• Guaraní: nd- -i
• Guerrero Amuzgo: chi
• Gujarati: નથી (nathī)
• Haitian Creole: pa
• Hausa: ba
• Hawaiian: ʻaʻole
• Hebrew: לא (he) (lo)
• Hindi: नहीं (hi) (nahī̃), (don't) न (hi) (na), (don't, more abrupt) मत (hi) (mat)
• Hittite: 𒈾𒀜𒋫 (natta)
• Hungarian: nem (hu)
• Icelandic: ekki (is), ei (is) (dated), eigi (dated)
• Ido: ne (io)
• Igbo: ọ bụghị
• Indonesian: tidak (id), tak (id)
• Ingush: ца (ca)
• Interlingua: non (ia)
• Irish: ní, níor (before past tenses), cha, chan, char (before past tenses), gan (ga) (in conjunction with a verbal noun)

  Old Irish: ní, nícon

• Italian: non (it), (colloquial) mica (it)
• Japanese: ...ではない (de wa nai) (be not), ...ない (ja) (nai), (polite final form) -ません (...masen)
• Jarawa: naɖem, -ma
• Javanese: ora (jv)
• Kamkata-viri: nā̃i
• Kannada: ಅಲ್ಲ (kn) (alla)
• Kashubian: ni
• Kazakh: емес (kk) (emes)
• Khalaj: داغ, dâğ
• Khmer: មិន...ទេ (min … teː)
• Khün: ᨷᩢ (baw²)
• Kilivila: gala
• Korean: 안 (ko) (an), (be not) ...아니다 (ko) (...anida), 않다 (ko) (anta) (auxiliary verb, follows verb stem + 지)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: نە (ne), نا (na)

• Kyrgyz: эмес (ky) (emes)
• Ladino: נון (non)
• Lao: ບໍ່ (bǭ)
• Latin: non (la), nil, haud (la), hau, haut, nunquam, ne (la), nec (la), neque (la)
• Latvian: ne- (lv)
• Linngithigh: ngga'
• Lithuanian: ne- (lt)
• Lü: ᦢᧁᧈ (ḃaw¹), ᨷᩢ
• Luxembourgish: net
• Macedonian: не (ne)
• Malay: tidak (ms), bukan, endah (Sarawak)
• Malayalam: ഇല്ല (ml) (illa)
• Maltese: mhux, lanqas
• Mansaka: di
• Maori: e kore, kāore
• Maranao: di'
• Marathi: नाही (nāhī)
• Middle English: nought, ne, not
• Miskito: apia
• Mon: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian: -гүй (-güj)
• Mudburra: kula
• Navajo: dooda
• Naxi: me
• Nepali: छैन (chaina)
• Ngazidja Comorian: tsi
• North Frisian: ai (Mooring), ei (Föhr-Amrum), ek (Sylt), ni (Heligoland)
• Northern Thai: ᨷᩴ᩵ (bɔɔ²)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ikke (no), ei (no)

  Nynorsk: ikkje (nn), ei (nn)

• Occitan: non (oc), pas (oc)
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: не (ne)

• Old East Slavic: не (ne)
• Old English: ne (used before the finite verb)
• Old Frisian: ne, ni
• Old Norse: ekki
• Old Saxon: ne, ni
• Ossetian: нӕ (næ)
• Persian: نه (fa) (na)
• Polish: nie (pl)
• Portuguese: não (pt)
• Punjabi: ਨਾ (nā)
• Quechua: ama (qu)
• Rapa Nui: kai, hoki (used in a question when expecting an affirmative answer)
• Romani: na, ći, ni
• Romanian: nu (ro)
• Russian: не (ru) (ne)
• Salar: emes
• Samoan: lē
• Sanskrit: न (sa) (na)
• Scottish Gaelic: chan eil, chan, cha
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: не

  Roman: ne (sh)

• Shan: ဢမ်ႇ (shn) (ʼàm)
• Sicilian: nun (scn), non (scn), 'un, unn, nn'
• Slovak: ne- (sk)
• Slovene: nè (sl)
• Somali: ma (so)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: nje-

• Southern Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: no (es)
• Sundanese: enteu, sanés, teu
• Swabian: it, et, net
• Swahili: use negative conjugated forms of the verb
• Swedish: inte (sv), ej (sv), icke (sv)
• Tagalog: hindi (tl)
• Tai Dam: ꪹꪚ꪿ꪱ (báu)
• Tajik: не (tg) (ne)
• Tamil: இல்லை (ta) (illai)
• Tatar: түгел (tügel)
• Tausug: di
• Telugu: కాదు (te) (kādu)
• Tetum: la
• Thai: ไม่ (th) (mâi), ไม่ใช่ (mâi-châi)
• Tibetan: མ (ma), མི (mi), མིན (min), མེད (med)
• Turkish: değil (tr), -ma (tr), -me (tr)
• Turkmen: däl
• Tz'utujil: ma
• Tày: bấu, ná, nắm, bố, mì
• Ukrainian: не (uk) (ne)
• Urdu: نہیں (nahī̃), (don't) نہ (na), (don't, more abrupt) مت (mat)
• Uyghur: ئەمەس (emes)
• Uzbek: emas (uz)
• Vietnamese: không (vi), (for emphasis) chẳng (vi), chả (vi)
• Waigali: ne
• Welsh: dim (cy)
• West Frisian: net
• White Hmong: tsis
• Yagnobi: на (na)
• Yiddish: ניט (nit), נישט (nisht)
• Yucatec Maya: ma'
• Zealandic: nie
• Zhuang: mbouj
• ǃXóõ: (not be) ǁʻàa

Conjunction

not

1. And not.

   I wanted a plate of shrimp, not a bucket of chicken.

   He painted the car blue and black, not solid purple.

Usage notes

• The construction “A, not B” is synonymous with the constructions “A, and not B”; “not B, but A”; and “not B, but rather A”.

Translations

And not

• Arabic: لَا (ar) (lā)
• Assamese: নহয় (nohoy)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不是 (zh) (bú shì)

• Czech: ne (cs), nikoliv (cs)
• Dutch: geen (nl), niet (nl)
• Estonian: mitte (et)
• Finnish: eikä (fi) (and conjugated forms)
• French: pas, ^{(please verify)} non (fr)
• Galician: non (gl)
• Georgian: და არა (da ara)
• German: nicht (de)
• Greek: όχι (el) (óchi)
• Hebrew: ולא (v'ló)
• Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} nem pedig
• Icelandic: ekki (is), ei (is) (dated), eigi (dated)
• Indonesian: bukan (id)
• Italian: non (it)
• Japanese: ...ではなく (...de wa naku)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: نەک (nek)

• Malay: bukan
• Middle English: nought
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ikke (no)

  Nynorsk: ikkje (nn)

• Old English: nā
• Persian: نه (fa) (na)
• Polish: nie (pl), a nie
• Portuguese: não (pt)
• Romanian: nu (ro)
• Russian: а не (a ne), не (ru) (ne)
• Slovak: nie (sk)
• Spanish: no (es)
• Sundanese: sanés
• Swedish: inte (sv), icke (sv), ej (sv)
• Tatar: түгел (tügel)
• Turkish: değil (tr)

Interjection

not!

2. (slang) Used to indicate that the previous phrase was meant sarcastically or ironically. [chiefly 1990s]

   I really like hanging out with my little brother watching Barney … not!

   Sure, you’re perfect the way you are … not!

   • 1911 March, Zane Grey, “Out on the Field”, in The Young Pitcher, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC, page 64:

     You've got a swell chance to make this [baseball] team, you have, not! Third base is my job, Freshie. Why, you tow-head, you couldn't play marbles. You butter-finger, can't you stop anything?

   • 1949, E.E 'Doc' Smith, chapter XIV, in Skylark of Valeron, London: Panther, published 1974, page 134:

     "See?" "Uh-huh! Clear and lucid to the point of limpidity - 'not."

   • 2006 May 2, Steve Goldfarb, “Spilling out drops of wine at the Seder”, in soc.culture.jewish.moderated‎^[3] (Usenet):

     Because, of course, sympathy is finite -- and if you use it up on the wrong person then you won't have any left. Not.

Synonyms

• bender, I don't think

Translations

Translations

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 才怪 (zh) (cáiguài)

• Danish: ikke (da)
• Faroese: ikki (fo)
• Finnish: ja paskat (vulgar)
• French: ou pas (fr)
• Galician: non (gl)
• Icelandic: ekki (is)
• Japanese: じゃない (ja nai)
• Malay: tidak (ms), tak (ms)
• Norwegian:

  Norwegian Bokmål: ikke (no)

  Norwegian Nynorsk: ikkje (nn)

• Old Norse: ekki
• Portuguese: só que não
• Swedish: inte (sv), icke (sv), ej (sv)

See also

• Appendix:American Dialect Society words of the year

Noun

not (plural nots)

1. An instance of using the word “not”; a negation or denial.
   • 1922 March 4, “Fed on Fear Too Much”, in The Pathfinder, volume 29, number 1470, Washington, D.C.: Pathfinder Publishing Company, page 33:

     The children are taught to be afraid of winter, of war, of death, of hard times, of disease, of examtinations. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that children so seldom find the conversation of their elders uplifting. It is full of don’ts, buts and nots.

2. Alternative letter-case form of NOT (“unary operation on logical values that changes true to false, and false to true”).

Usage notes

Boolean operators and states are commonly written in all uppercase in order to distinguish them from the ordinary uses of the words.

Translations

unary negation function

• Finnish: EI
• Malay: tak (ms)
• Swedish: icke (sv)

See also

• if
• then
• else
• and
• or
• true
• false

Further reading

• “not”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• -ton, NTO, ONT, Ont, Ont., TNO, TON, on't, ton

Albanian

Etymology

From notoj.

Noun

not m

1. swim

Related terms

• notoj (“to swim”), bën not (“to swim”)

Ambonese Malay

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Dutch uitnodiging.

Verb

not

1. to invite

Noun

not

1. invitation

   Beta dapat not par pigi makang patiti.

   I received an invitation for dinner.

References

• D. Takaria, C. Pieter (1998) Kamus Bahasa Melayu Ambon-Indonesia‎^[4], Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa

Aromanian

Etymology 1

From Greek νότος (nótos).

Alternative forms

• Not

Noun

not m

1. dry wind from the south

Synonyms

• iug

See also

• vimtu
• sud/Sud
• livã
• austru

Etymology 2

Verb

not first-singular present indicative

1. Alternative form of anot to swim

Etymology 3

From anot (“to swim”). Compare Italian nuoto, Portuguese nado.

Noun

not m

1. swim, swimming

Synonyms

• notalui

Danish

Etymology 1

From German Nut.

Noun

not c (singular definite noten, plural indefinite noter)

2. (mechanics) A groove.

Inflection

Declension of not

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	not	noten	noter	noterne
genitive	nots	notens	noters	noternes

Etymology 2

From Norwegian not.

Noun

not c or n (singular definite noten or notet, plural indefinite noter or not)

1. (fishing) seine net

   Synonym: snurpenot

Inflection

Declension of not

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	not	noten notet	noter not	noterne notene
genitive	nots	notens notets	noters nots	noternes notenes

Derived terms

• snurpenot

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

not

1. imperative of note

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /noːt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oːt

Adverb

not

1. Only used in nottun

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɔːt/
• Rhymes: -ɔːt

Noun

not n pl (plural only, genitive plural nota)

1. use

Declension

Declension of not (pl-only neuter)

	plural
	indefinite	definite
nominative	not	notin
accusative	not	notin
dative	notum	notunum
genitive	nota	notanna

Synonyms

• (use): gagn, notkun

Derived terms

• koma að notum (to be of use, to be useful)

Related terms

• nota (“to use”)

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch noot, from Middle Dutch note, from Old French note, from Latin nota. Doublet of nota.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɔt/
• Hyphenation: not

Noun

not

1. (music) note, a character, variously formed, to indicate the length of a tone, and variously placed upon the staff to indicate its pitch.

   Synonym: titi nada

Compounds

• not angka
• not balok
• not bantu
• not bendera
• not garis
• not seperdelapan
• not seperempat
• not spasi

 

Further reading

• “not” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Luxembourgish

Adjective

not

1. strong/weak nominative/accusative neuter singular of no

Middle English

Etymology 1

Reduction of nought (from Old English nāwiht, nōwiht).

Alternative forms

• nat, note, notte, nate, nut

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɔt/, /nat/

Adverb

not

1. not (negates the accompanying verb)

   Þei ne bileveden hire not. ― They didn't believe her.

2. not (to no degree, extent, or way)

   Þou art not weyke. ― You aren't weak.

   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[5], published c. 1410, Joon ·i· 5:3, page 115v, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     foꝛ þis is þe charite of god .· þat we kepe hiſe comaundementis / ⁊ his maundementis ben not heuy.

     Now this is the love of God: us keeping his commandments. And his commandments aren't onerous.

Descendants

• English: not
• Geordie English: nut
• Scots: nat (obsolete)
• Yola: nat

References

• “not, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Noun

not (uncountable)

1. nothing, nought
2. (rare) nobody, no person

Descendants

• English: not
• Scots: nat (obsolete)

References

• “not, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

From Old English nāt, first and third person singular of nitan, equivalent to ne +‎ woot and ne +‎ witen.

Alternative forms

• noot, note, nat

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɔːt/, /naːt/

Contraction

not

1. Contraction of ne woot; not to know.
   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “(please specify the story)”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC:

     I noot which was the fairer of hem two

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Related terms

• nost
• nould

Descendants

• Yola: note

References

• “witen, v.¹”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• nót (alternative spelling of etymology 1 and 2)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nuːt/

Etymology 1

ei ringnot

From Old Norse nót, from Proto-Germanic *nōtō (“net; seine”).

Noun

not f (definite singular nota, indefinite plural nøter, definite plural nøtene)

1. (chiefly fishing) a net, seine

Derived terms

• dragnot
• flytenot
• fløytnot
• kastenot
• kilenot
• laksenot
• landnot
• notbas
• notbruk
• notfiske
• nothund
• notlag
• notnål
• notsteng
• notvarp
• posenot
• ringnot
• sildenot
• slepenot
• snurpenot

 

Etymology 2

From Middle Low German.

Noun

not f (definite singular nota, indefinite plural noter, definite plural notene)

1. (carpentry, mechanics) a groove (as used in a tongue and groove joint)

   Coordinate term: fjør

Derived terms

• nothøvel

Etymology 3

From Old Norse hnot.

Noun

not f (definite singular nota, indefinite plural neter, definite plural netene)

1. (pre-2012) alternative form of nøtt (“nut”)

References

• “not” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• nót, nòt, ton, tòn

Old English

Alternative forms

• nōt

Etymology

From Latin nota.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /not/

Noun

not m (nominative plural notas)

1. a sign; mark; a mark made on an object

Declension

Declension of not (strong a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	not	notas
accusative	not	notas
genitive	notes	nota
dative	note	notum

Descendants

• Middle English: note, noote
  • Scots: note
  • English: note

Old Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse nót, from Proto-Germanic *nōtō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /noːt/

Noun

nōt f

1. net, seine

Declension

Declension of not (strong ō-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	nōt	nōtin	nōtar	nōtarnar, nōtanar
accusative	nōt	nōtina	nōtar	nōtarnar, nōtanar
dative	nōt, nōto	nōtinni, nōtinne	nōtum, nōtom	nōtumin, nōtomen
genitive	nōtar	nōtarinnar	nōta	nōtanna

Descendants

• Swedish: not

Romansch

Alternative forms

• notg (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran)

Etymology

From Latin noctem, accusative of nox, from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts.

Noun

not f (plural nots)

1. (Puter, Vallader) night

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

Borrowed from English note. The "money" sense comes from the now-rare £1 note.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n̪ˠɔht̪/
• (Lewis) IPA^(key): [n̪ˠõht̪], [n̪ˠʊ̃ht̪]

Noun

not m (genitive singular not, plural notaichean)

1. (music) note
2. (money) pound (sterling)

Swedish

Etymology 1

From Old French note (noun), noter (verb), both from Latin nota.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnuːt/

Noun

not c

1. (music) note.
2. a short message; note.
3. (diplomacy) a formal message from a country to another country’s embassy.

Declension

Declension of not

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	not	nots
	definite	noten	notens
plural	indefinite	noter	noters
	definite	noterna	noternas

Derived terms

• vara med på noterna

Related terms

• notera

Etymology 2

Related to nät (“net”).

Noun

not c

1. seine

Declension

Declension of not

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	not	nots
	definite	noten	notens
plural	indefinite	notar	notars
	definite	notarna	notarnas

Anagrams

• ont, ton

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English North.

Noun

not

1. North

Turkish

Etymology

From French note.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnot/
• Rhymes: -ot

Noun

not (definite accusative notu, plural notlar)

1. a short message; note

   Not: Seni seviyorum. ― PS: I love you.

2. grade, score

Declension

Inflection
Nominative	not
Definite accusative	notu
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	not	notlar
Definite accusative	notu	notları
Dative	nota	notlara
Locative	notta	notlarda
Ablative	nottan	notlardan
Genitive	notun	notların

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɔt/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English knot.

Noun

not m (plural notiau, not mutable)

1. (aviation, nautical) knot

Etymology 2

Noun

not

1. Nasal mutation of dot.

Mutation

Mutated forms of dot

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
dot	ddot	not	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.