dunno

English

Etymology

Written form of don't know, which is a reduction of do not know or does not know.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdʌnəʊ/, /dəˈnəʊ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /dəˈnoʊ/; (after a stressed pronoun) /dn̩oʊ/ (e.g. I dunno is /ˈaɪdn̩oʊ/)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: (Received Pronunciation) -əʊ, (General American, after a stressed pronoun) -oʊ

Contraction

dunno

1. (informal) Pronunciation spelling of do not know; pronunciation spelling of does not know.
   • 1915, C.J. Dennis, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, published 1916, page 13:

     Fer, as the poit sez, me 'eart 'as got / The pip wiv yearnin' fer - I dunno wot.

   I dunno the answers to any of those questions, and you dunno and he dunno either.

   "Where'd he go?" / "Dunno."

Usage notes

As with several other verbs in English that regularly do not require a pronoun, when the pronoun is not given, it is assumed to be I; all other pronouns must be given. It is never mandatory to drop I, although it is most common to do so when dunno is the only word in the sentence.

Derived terms

• iunno

Translations

do (does) not know

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不知道 (bù zhīdào)

• Dutch: weet ik niet, kweenie, kweetniet
• Finnish: tiiä
• French: (colloquial) chais pas
• German: (colloquial) weiß nich
• Hebrew: לוידע (lòydéa)
• Hungarian: nemtom, gőzöm sincs
• Italian: (colloquial) boh (it)
• Japanese: 分からん (wakaran), 知らん (shiran)
• Latin: nescio (la)
• Malay: tak tau, tak tahu, entah
• Maori: aua, aua hoki, e aua hoki
• Marathi: माहीत नाही (māhīt nāhī)
• Polish: nie wiem, nie wie
• Portuguese: (colloquial) sei lá (pt)
• Russian: не знать (ne znatʹ), не зна́ю (ne znáju), неизве́стно (ru) (neizvéstno)
• Spanish: (Mexico, colloquial) sepa (es), (Chile) sabí
• Swedish: (colloquial) venne (sv), (colloquial) vene (sv), vet inte
• Thai: มะรุ (má-rú)
• Ukrainian: не знаю (ne znaju)
• Welsh: dwn i ddim, dwn i'm

Noun

dunno (plural dunnos)

1. An utterance of the word dunno.

References

• “dunno”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.