aren't

English

Etymology

are +‎ -n’t

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɑː(r)nt/, X-SAMPA: /A:(r)nt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: aunt (in some non-rhotic accents)

Contraction

aren’t

1. (colloquial) Are not.
2. (colloquial) Spelling replacement for homonym an’t, a contraction of “am not”, in the construction aren’t I?.
   • 1800, George Manville Fenn, To Win Or To Die: A Tale of the Klondike Gold Craze:

     I’m a nasty-tempered dog if any one tries to take my bone away; aren’t I, my sons?

   • 2008 July 1, Daren Kagasoff as Ricky Underwood, “Falling in Love”, The Secret Life of the American Teenager season 1 episode 1:

     Aren’t I supposed to tell you how I feel?

   • 2010 October 26, Athletics, “Why Aren’t I Home?” (song)[1], in Why Aren’t I Home? (album): 

Synonyms

• (are not): ain’t (slang)
• (am not): ain’t (slang), amn’t (Scottish and Irish dialect)

Usage notes

• Aren’t as a contraction of “am not” is used most often in the question aren’t I? (= am I not?). In the non-interrogative form, the standard contraction of “I am not” is “I’m not”.

Antonyms

• (are not): are
• (am not): am

Anagrams

• antre, earnt, Netra