Wiktionary

'n

See also: ʼn and Appendix:Variations of "n"

English edit

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

Contraction of and.

Conjunction edit

'n

  1. Nonstandard spelling of 'n'.
    fish 'n chips
    rock 'n roll
    • 1927, Arthur D[ouglas] Howden Smith, “The Ferryman”, in Commodore Vanderbilt: An Epic of American Achievement, New York, N.Y.: Robert M[edill] McBride & Company, section III, pages 50–51:
      “Might think we was brother 'n sister, to hear ye, Ma! Damn me to glory, don't ye know thar's fust cousins marryin' every week? And no harm come of it.” […] “Oh, son, not in the face of Pa 'n me that love you, whatever you think! We're only tryin' to figger for your own good.”

Etymology 2 edit

Conjunction edit

'n

  1. Contraction of than.
    • 1865, Mark Twain, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County:
      The feller took the box again, and took another long, particular look, and give it back to Smiley, and says, very deliberate, "Well, I don't see no p'ints about that frog that's any better'n any other frog."
    • 1969, Anne Warner, Susan Clegg and her friend Mrs. Lathrop, page 87:
      She says you may laugh 'f you feel so inclined, but there ain't no such big difference between your leg 'n' a dead rat but what it 'll pay you to mark her words. She says 'f it don't do no more 'n eat the skin off it 'll still be pretty hard for you to lay there without no skin 'n' feel the plaster goin' in more 'n' more.
    • 2010, Arnan Heyden, Daughters of Agendale, page 228:
      What I can give ya is this bit o' knowledge: there be things in this world that no one can explain. There are things bigger 'n mountains, bigger 'n oceans, bigger 'n fields an' night skies filled with stars, bigger 'n kings, or queens…

Etymology 3 edit

Conjunction edit

'n

  1. (archaic) Contraction of when. (As found in if'n.)

Etymology 4 edit

Noun edit

'n (plural 'ns)

  1. (colloquial) Alternative form of 'un (“one, a thing”)
    • 2009, Mariella Glenn Hartsfield, Tall Betsy and Dunce Baby: South Georgia Folktales, page 104:
      The other said, "Alright, I'm gonna do it like this: you take this'n, I'll take that'n; you take this'n, I'll take that'n; […]
    • 2012, Liza Cody, Musclebound, page 15:
      Which really did turn into a headache when I woke up — a bad'n.

Afrikaans edit

Etymology edit

From Dutch een, 'n.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ə/
  • Audio(file)

Article edit

'n (indefinite)

  1. (indefinite article) a, an

Usage notes edit

  • This word is not capitalized at the beginning of a sentence and the following word is capitalized instead.

Asturian edit

Preposition edit

'n

  1. (obsolete) Contraction of en.
    Toi viviendo'n Cangues
    I'm living in Cangues

Usage notes edit

While this contraction still reflects the elision that often occurs in en when it is between a word ending in a vowel and a word beginning in a consonant, this spelling was dropped by the Academy of the Asturian Language in 1990. Thus, the normative spelling of the above example is now Toi viviendo en Cangues.

See also edit

Bavarian edit

Etymology 1 edit

Merged unstressed form of an and en or den.

Article edit

'n m

  1. a (accusative)
  2. the (accusative)
See also edit
Bavarian articles
m n f pl
stressed unstressed stressed unstressed stressed unstressed stressed unstressed
definite nominative der, da — das, es, des 's de d' de d'
accusative en, den 'n
dative em, dem 'm em, dem 'm der, da —
genitive1 des des der, da der, da
indefinite nominative a — a — a —
accusative an 'n
dative am 'm am 'm a, ana 'na
1) higher, formal register

Etymology 2 edit

Unstressed form of eam.

Pronoun edit

'n

  1. him
  2. it (dative)
See also edit
Bavarian personal pronouns
nominative accusative dative
stressed unstressed stressed unstressed stressed unstressed
1st person singular i — mi — mia (mir) ma
2nd person singular
(informal) 		du — di — dia (dir) da
2nd person singular
(formal) 		Sie — Eahna — Eahna —
3rd person singular m er a eahm 'n eahm 'n
n es, des 's des 's
f se, de 's se 's ihr —
1st person plural mia (mir) ma uns — uns —
2nd person plural eß, ihr — enk, eich — enk, eich —
3rd person plural se 's eahna — eahna —

Catalan edit

Pronoun edit

'n

  1. Contraction of ne.

Usage notes edit

  • 'n is the reduced (reduïda) form of the pronoun. It is used after verbs ending with a vowel.

Declension edit

Catalan personal pronouns and clitics
strong/subject weak (direct object) weak (indirect object) possessive
singular proclitic enclitic proclitic enclitic
1st person jo, mi3 em, m’ -me, ’m em, m’ -me, ’m meu
1st person majestic1 nós ens -nos, ’ns ens -nos, ’ns nostre
2nd person tu et, t’ -te, ’t et, t’ -te, ’t teu
2nd person formal1 vós us -vos, -us us -vos, -us vostre
2nd person very formal2 vostè el, l’ -lo, ’l li -li seu
3rd person masculine ell el, l’ -lo, ’l li -li seu
3rd person feminine ella la, l’4 -la li -li seu
3rd person neuter ho -ho li -li seu
3rd person reflexive si es, s’ -se, ’s es, s’ -se, ’s seu
plural
1st person nosaltres ens -nos, ’ns ens -nos, ’ns nostre
2nd person vosaltres us -vos, -us us -vos, -us vostre
2nd person formal2 vostès els -los, ’ls els -los, ’ls seu
3rd person masculine ells els -los, ’ls els -los, ’ls seu
3rd person feminine elles les -les els -los, ’ls seu
3rd person reflexive si es, s’ -se, ’s es, s’ -se, ’s seu
adverbial
ablative/genitive en, n’ -ne, ’n
locative hi -hi
1) Behaves grammatically as plural.
2) Behaves grammatically as third person. 		3) Only as object of a preposition.
4) Not before unstressed (h)i-, (h)u-.

Dutch edit

Pronunciation edit

Article edit

'n

  1. Contraction of een.

Notes edit

If 'n begins a sentence, the first letter of the following word is capitalised instead.

German edit

Alternative forms edit

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

Contraction of ein. Like virtually all traditional German dialects, colloquial standard German distinguishes the indefinite article from the numeral for "one". The specific form 'n has spread from the North southward and is thus of chiefly Low German origin. Most High German dialects use forms without the final -n, such as [ə] or [a], at least for the basic form (i.e. the masculine and neuter nominative). These pronunciations are sometimes heard in colloquial standard German as well, but 'n is clearly the commonest form.

Article edit

'n

  1. (colloquial) Alternative form of ein (“a, an”)
  2. (colloquial) Alternative form of einen (“a, an”)
Declension edit
Derived terms edit

Etymology 2 edit

Contraction of denn.

Adverb edit

'n

  1. (colloquial) short for denn (used for general emphasis)
    Wann wärst'n hier?
    So, when would you be here?

Italian edit

Etymology 1 edit

Preposition edit

'n

  1. (literary) Alternative form of in
  2. (colloquial) Pronunciation spelling of in.

Etymology 2 edit

Article edit

'n m

  1. (colloquial) Pronunciation spelling of un.

Numeral edit

'n m

  1. (colloquial) Pronunciation spelling of un.

Etymology 3 edit

Adverb edit

'n

  1. (colloquial) Pronunciation spelling of non.

Ligurian edit

Etymology edit

Apheresis of un (“a, an”, article).

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ŋ/ (when followed by a consonant)
  • IPA(key): /n/ (when followed by a vowel)

Article edit

'n m (feminine 'na, 'n')

  1. a, an (male)

Low German edit

Article edit

'n

  1. Contraction of den.

Pronoun edit

'n

  1. Contraction of en.

Sicilian edit

Etymology edit

Apheresis of in, from Latin in.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ŋ/ (when followed by a consonant)
  • IPA(key): /n/ (when followed by a vowel)

Preposition edit

'n

  1. in

Welsh edit

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

Particle edit

'n

  1. Alternative form of yn (used after a vowel).
    Mae hi'n darllen. ― She is reading.
    Mae hi'n gysglyd. ― She is sleepy.
    Mae hi'n ferch. ― She is a girl.

Etymology 2 edit

Contraction of ein (“our”).

Determiner edit

'n (triggers h-prothesis of a following vowel)

  1. our (used after vowels).
    Dyna'n harian ni.
    That's our money.

Pronoun edit

'n (triggers h-prothesis of a following vowel)

  1. us (as the direct object of a verbal noun or verb)
    Mae e yma i'n harfarnu.
    He's here to appraise us.
    Fe'n magwyd yng ngefn gwlad.
    We were brought up (lit. One brought us up) in the countryside.

Usage notes edit

  • In formal Welsh, the contraction 'n is a valid form of ein found after mostly functional vowel-final words. In colloquial Welsh, ein is often contracted to 'n after almost any vowel-final word.
  • Pronomial 'n (and ein) can occur before any verbal noun. Before verbal, pronomial 'n is found only in formal language after certain vowel-final preverbal particles, such as fe, a, ni, na, oni and pe.

Further reading edit

  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “'n”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Zealandic edit

Etymology edit

An unstressed variety of eên.

Determiner edit

'n

  1. a (indefinite article)
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