not

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

Contents

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

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.

PronunciationEdit

• (Received Pronunciation)
  • IPA^(key): /nɒt/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American)
  • IPA^(key): /nɑt/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒt
• Homophone: knot
• Homophone: naught, nought (cot–caught merger)

AdverbEdit

not (not comparable)

1. Negates the meaning of the modified verb.
   • 1973, Richard Nixon.

     Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got.

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

   Not knowing any better, I went ahead.

2. To no degree.

   That is not red; it's orange.

Usage notesEdit

In modern usage, do-support requires that the form do not ... (or don’t ...) is preferred to ... not for all but a short list of verbs (is/am/are/was/were, have/has/had, can/could, shall/should, will/would, may/might, 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, and even this usage is rare, especially in the US.

• You don’t need to trouble yourself. (common)
• You needn’t trouble yourself. (outside US, rare)
• 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.)

Related termsEdit

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

TranslationsEdit

negates meaning of verb

• Acehnese: hana
• Afrikaans: nie (af)
• Albanian: nuk (sq)
• Amharic: አይደለም (āyidelemi)
• Arabic: لَا‎‎ (ar) (lā), (past tense, continuous present) مَا‎‎ (ar) (mā), (only past tense, imperfective) لَم‎‎ (lam), (future tense) لَن‎‎ (lan), (verb - "to be not") لَيْسَ‎‎ (laysa)

  Egyptian: مش‎‎ (miš) or (muš)

• Armenian: չ- (čʿ-) + (verb)
• Assamese: নহয় (nohoy), ন- (no-), না (na)
• Asturian: nun (ast)
• Azerbaijani: deyil (az)
• Bashkir: түгел (tügel)
• Basque: ez (eu)
• Belarusian: не (be) (nje), ня (nja) (not standard in writing, despite common unstressed pronunciation)
• Bengali: না (na)
• Bulgarian: не (bg) (ne)
• Burmese: မ ... ဘူး (ma. ... bhu:)
• Catalan: no (ca)
• Cebuano: dili
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ^{(please verify)} ⵓⵔ (ur) + verb, ^{(please verify)} ⵓⵔⴷ (urd) + noun, ^{(please verify)} pronoun (pronoun)
• Central Huishui Hmong: tsis
• Chamicuro: kala
• Chichewa: osati
• Chinese:

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

  Dungan: бу (bu)

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

• Corsican: micca
• Czech: ne- (cs)
• Danish: ikke (da), ej
• Dutch: niet (nl)
• Esperanto: ne (eo)
• Estonian: ei (et)
• Faroese: ikki, ei
• Finnish: ei (fi)
• French: ne ... pas, pas (fr), ne (fr) (see entries for usage)
• Galician: non (gl)
• Georgian: არ (ar)
• German: nicht (de)
• Greek: δε (el) (de), δεν (el) (den), μη (el) (mi), μην (el) (min)

  Ancient: οὐ (ou), μή (mḗ)

• 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)
• Interlingua: non
• 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)
• Japanese: ...ではない (de wa nai) (be not), ...ない (ja) (nai), (polite final form) -ません (...masen)
• Javanese: ora (jv)
• Kannada: ಅಲ್ಲ (kn) (alla)
• Kazakh: емес (kk) (emes)
• Khmer: មិន...ទេ (min … teː)
• Kilivila: gala
• Korean: 안 (ko) (an), (be not) ...아니다 (ko) (...anida), 않다 (ko) (anta) (auxiliary verb, follows verb stem + 지)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: نه‌‎‎ (ku) (ne), نا‎‎ (ku) (na)

• Lao: ບໍ່ (bǭ)
• Latin: non (la), nil, haud (la), hau, haut, nunquam, ne (la), nec (la), neque (la)
• Latvian: ne- (lv)

• Lithuanian: ne- (lt)
• Lü: ᦢᧁᧈ (ḃaw¹), ᨷᩢ
• Macedonian: не (ne)
• Malay: tidak, bukan
• Maltese: mhux, lanqas
• Maori: e kore, kāore
• Miskito: apia
• Mon: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian: -гүй (-güj)
• Navajo: dooda
• Nepali: छैन (chaina)
• Ngazidja Comorian: tsi
• North Frisian: ai (Mooring), ei (Föhr-Amrum), ek (Sylt), ni (Heligoland)
• Northern Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ikke (no), ei (no)

  Nynorsk: ikkje (nn), ei (nn)

• Novial: non
• Occitan: non
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: не (ne)

• Old East Slavic: не (ne)
• Old English: ne
• Old Frisian: ne, ni
• Old Saxon: ne, ni
• 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)
• Romanian: nu (ro)
• Russian: не (ru) (ne)
• Rusyn: не (ne)
• Samoan: lē
• Sanskrit: न (sa) (na)
• Scottish Gaelic: chan eil, chan, cha
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: не

  Roman: ne (sh)

• Shan: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: ne-
• Slovene: nè (sl)
• Somali: ma
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: nje-

• Spanish: no (es)
• Sundanese: enteu, sanés, teu
• Swahili: use negative conjugated forms of the verb, si
• Swedish: inte (sv), ej (sv), icke (sv)
• Tagalog: hindi (tl)
• Tajik: не (tg) (ne)
• Tamil: இல்லை (ta) (illai)
• Telugu: కాదు (te) (kādu)
• Thai: ไม่ (th) (mâi), ไม่ใช่ (mâi-châi)
• Tibetan: མིན (min), མེད (med)
• Turkish: değil (tr), -ma, -me
• Tz'utujil: ma
• Ukrainian: не (uk) (ne)
• Urdu: نہیں‎‎ (nahī̃), (don't) نہ‎‎ (na), (don't, more abrupt) مت‎‎ (mat)
• Vietnamese: không (vi), (for emphasis) chẳng (vi), chả (vi)
• Welsh: dim (cy)
• West Frisian: net
• White Hmong: tsis
• Yagnobi: на
• Yiddish: ניט‎‎ (nit), נישט‎‎ (nisht)
• Yucatec Maya: ma'
• Zhuang: mbouj
• ǃXóõ: (not be) ǁʻàa

ConjunctionEdit

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 notesEdit

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

TranslationsEdit

And not

• Arabic: (verb) لَيْسَ‎‎ (laysa), 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: ei (fi)
• 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: mica (it)
• Japanese: (...) ではなく (dewa naku)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: نه‌ک‎‎ (ku) (nek)

• Malay: bukan
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ikke (no)

  Nynorsk: ikkje (nn)

• Persian: نه‎‎ (fa) (na)
• Polish: nie (pl)
• Portuguese: não (pt)
• Russian: а не (a ne), не (ru) (ne)
• Spanish: no (es)
• Sundanese: sanés
• Swedish: inte (sv), icke (sv), ej (sv)
• Turkish: değil (tr)

InterjectionEdit

not!

1. (slang, 1990s) Used to indicate that the previous phrase was meant sarcastically or ironically.

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

   Sure, you're perfect the way you are... not!

SynonymsEdit

• bender, I don't think

TranslationsEdit

Translations

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 才怪 (zh), 才怪 (zh) (cáiguài)

• Danish: ikke (da)
• Faroese: ikki
• Galician: non (gl)
• Icelandic: ekki (is)
• Japanese: じゃない (ja nai)

• Malay: tidak, tak
• Norwegian:

  Norwegian Bokmål: ikke (no)

  Norwegian Nynorsk: ikkje (nn)

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

See alsoEdit

• Appendix:American Dialect Society words of the year

NounEdit

not (plural nots)

1. Unary logical function NOT, true if input is false, or a gate implementing that negation function.

   You need a not there to conform with the negative logic of the memory chip.

Related termsEdit

• NOR

TranslationsEdit

unary negation function

• Finnish: EI
• Malay: tak

• Swedish: icke (sv)

ContractionEdit

not

1. (obsolete) Contraction of ne wot, wot not; know not; knows not.
   • Geoffrey Chaucer's The Knight's Tale.

     I noot which was the fairer of hem two

See alsoEdit

• AND
• OR
• NAND
• XOR

See alsoEdit

• if
• then
• else
• and

• or
• true
• false

AnagramsEdit

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

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AlbanianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From notoj.

NounEdit

not m

1. a swim

Related termsEdit

• notoj or bën not to swim

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AromanianEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Greek νότος (nótos).

Alternative formsEdit

• Not

NounEdit

not m

1. dry wind from the south

SynonymsEdit

• iug

See alsoEdit

• vimtu
• sud/Sud
• livã
• austru

Etymology 2Edit

VerbEdit

not

1. Alternative form of anot to swim

Etymology 3Edit

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

NounEdit

not m

1. swim, swimming

SynonymsEdit

• notalui

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DanishEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From German Nut.

NounEdit

not c (singular definite noten, plural indefinite noter)

1. (mechanics) A groove.

InflectionEdit

Declension of not

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

Etymology 2Edit

From Norwegian not.

NounEdit

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

1. (fishing) seine net

   Synonym: snurpenot

InflectionEdit

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 termsEdit

• snurpenot

Etymology 3Edit

See the etymology of the main entry.

VerbEdit

not

1. imperative of note

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IcelandicEdit

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /nɔːt/
• Rhymes: -ɔːt

NounEdit

not n pl (plurale tantum)

1. use

DeclensionEdit

declension of not

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

SynonymsEdit

• (use): gagn, notkun

Derived termsEdit

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

Related termsEdit

• nota (“to use”)

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LuxembourgishEdit

AdjectiveEdit

not

1. inflected form of no

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Old EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

• nōt

EtymologyEdit

From Latin nota.

NounEdit

not m (nominative plural notas)

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

DeclensionEdit

Declension of not (strong a-stem)

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

DescendantsEdit

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

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Old SwedishEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

nōt f

1. net, seine

DeclensionEdit

Declension of nōt (ō-stem)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	nōt	nōtin	nōta(r)	nōtana(r)
accusative	nōt	nōtina, -ena	nōta(r)	nōtana(r)
dative	nōt	nōtinni, -inne	nōtum, -om	nōtumin, -omen
genitive	nōta(r)	nōtinnar	nōta	nōtanna

DescendantsEdit

• Swedish: not

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RomanschEdit

Alternative formsEdit

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

EtymologyEdit

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

NounEdit

not f (plural nots)

1. (Puter, Vallader) night

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Scottish GaelicEdit

NounEdit

not m (genitive singular not, plural notaichean)

1. Alternative form of nota.

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SwedishEdit

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /ˈnuːt/

NounEdit

not c

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

DeclensionEdit

Declension of not
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	not	noten	noter	noterna
Genitive	nots	notens	noters	noternas

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Tok PisinEdit

EtymologyEdit

From English North.

NounEdit

not

1. North

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TurkishEdit

NounEdit

not (definite accusative notu, plural notlar)

1. a short message; note

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

DeclensionEdit

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