must

English

Pronunciation

• (stressed) IPA: /mʌst/, X-SAMPA: /mVst/
• (unstressed) IPA: /məs(t)/, X-SAMPA: /m@s(t)/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌst
• Homophone: mussed

Etymology 1

From Middle English moste (“must”, literally “had to”), from Old English mōste (“had to”), 1st & 3rd person singular past tense of mōtan (“to be allowed, be able to, have the opportunity to, be compelled to, must, may”). Cognate with Dutch moest (“had to”), German musste (“had to”), Swedish måste (“must, have to, be obliged to”). More at mote.

Verb

must

1. (modal auxiliary, defective) to do with certainty; indicates that the speaker is certain that the subject will have executed the predicate

   If it rained all day, it must be very wet outside.

   You picked one of two, and it wasn't the first: it must have been the second.

   Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. (Acts 9:6)

2. (modal auxiliary, defective) to do as a requirement; indicates that the sentence subject is required as an imperative or directive to execute the sentence predicate, with failure to do so resulting in a negative consequence

   You must arrive in class on time. — the requirement is an imperative

   This door handle must be rotated fully. — the requirement is a directive

Quotations

• 1936, Alfred Edward Housman, More Poems, IX, lines 3-6

  Forth I wander, forth I must,

  And drink of life again.

  Forth I must by hedgerow bowers

  To look at the leaves uncurled

• 1937 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

  We must away ere break of day

  To seek the pale enchanted gold.

• 1968 Fritz Leiber, Swords in the Mist

  Whereupon while one patched or napped, the other must stand guard against inquisitive two- and three-headed dragons and even an occasional monocephalic.

Usage notes

• (auxiliary, to do with certainty): Compare with weaker auxiliary verb should, indicating a strong probability of the predicate's execution.
• (auxiliary, to do as a requirement): Compare with weaker auxiliary verb should, indicating mere intent for the predicate's execution; and stronger auxiliary verb will, indicating that the negative consequence will be unusually severe.
• The past tense of "must" is also "must"; however, this usage is almost always literary (see Fritz Leiber quotation above). The past sense is usually conveyed by had to. It is possible to use be bound to for the past also. For this reason, have to and be bound to are also used as alternatives to must in the present and future.
• The principal verb, if easily supplied, may be omitted. In modern usage this is mainly literary (see Housman and Tolkien quotations above).
• Must is unusual in its negation. Must not still expresses a definite certainty or requirement, with the predicate negated. Need, on the other hand, is negated in the usual manner. Compare:

You must not read that book. (It is necessary that you not read that book.)

You need not read that book. (It is not necessary that you read that book.)

• The second person singular no longer adds "-est" (as it did in Old English).

See also

• Appendix:English tag questions

Translations

must

• Arabic: وجب (ar) (wajaba) (present tense: يجب (ar) (yájib)), لابد (ar) (lābudda), يتحتم (ar) (yataḥáttam), يلزم (ar) (yálzam), علي أن (ar) (ʿalayya ʾan)

  Egyptian Arabic: (adjective) لازم (ar) (laazim)

  Levantine Arabic: (adjective) لازم (ar) (laazim)

• Belarusian: мусіць (be) (músic'), (predicative) павінен (be) (pavínen)
• Bulgarian: трябва (bg) (trjabva)
• Catalan: deure (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 應該 (cmn), 应该 (cmn) (yīnggāi), 必須 (cmn), 必须 (cmn) (bìxū)

• Czech: musit (cs)
• Dalmatian: dovar
• Danish: skulle (da)
• Dutch: moeten (nl)
• Esperanto: devi (eo)
• Finnish: täytyy (fi)
• French: devoir (fr)
• Georgian: უნდა (ka) (unda)
• German: müssen (de)
• Greek: πρέπει (el) (prépei)
• Haitian Creole: dwe
• Hindi: चाहिए (hi) (cāhie), पड़ना (hi) (paṛnā), (pattern: dative + verb + होना (honā)), होगा (hi) (hogā)
• Hungarian: kell (hu)
• Irish: caithfidh (ga)
• Italian: dovere (it)
• Japanese: ...なければならない (ja) (...-nakereba naranai) (conditional negative form + "naranai"), ...なくてはいけない (ja) (...-nakutewa ikenai) (...-nakutewa ikenai) (conditional negative form + "ikenai"), ...ないと駄目だ (ja) (...-nai to dame da) (conditional negative form + "dame da")
• Korean: 해야 하다 (ko) (haeya hada)
• Latin: debeō (la), debere (la), (use a verb in the periphrastic conjugations) futurus sum (la) (i must be), (use a verb in the periphrastic conjugations) servandus sum (la) (i must save)

• Lithuanian: privalo
• Lojban: bilga (jbo), .ei (jbo)
• Macedonian: мора (mk) (móra)
• Malay: mesti (ms)
• Mongolian: ёстой (mn) (yostóy)
• Neapolitan: avé a
• Norwegian: måtte (no)
• Old English: motan (ang)
• Old Saxon: motan
• Persian: باید (fa) (bâyad)
• Polish: musieć (pl)
• Portuguese: dever (pt)
• Romanian: trebui (ro)
• Russian: (predicative) должен (ru) (dólžen) m, должна (ru) (dolžná) f, должно (ru) (dolžnó) m, должны (ru) (dolžný) pl
• Scots: maun
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мо́рати (sh)

  Roman: mórati (sh)

• Slovak: musieť (sk)
• Slovene: morati (sl)
• Spanish: deber (es)
• Swedish: måste (sv)
• Thai: ต้อง (th) (dtông)
• Tok Pisin: mas (tpi)
• Turkish: -meli (tr), -malı (tr), lazım olmak (tr), gerek olmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: мусити (uk) (músyty), (predicative) повиний (uk) (povýnnyj)
• Urdu: چاہيے (ur) (cāhiē), پڑنا (ur) (paṛnā), (pattern: dative + verb + ہونا (hōnā))
• Vietnamese: phải (vi)
• West Frisian: moatte (fy)

Noun

must (plural musts)

1. Something that is mandatory or required

   If you'll be out all day, sunscreen is a must.

Synonyms

• imperative

Antonyms

• no-no

Translations

something mandatory

• French: must (fr) m or obligation (fr) m
• German: Muss (de) n
• Greek: αναγκαιότητα (el) (anagkaiótita) f, υποχρέωση (el) (ypochréosi) f

• Norwegian: krav (no) n, must (no) n
• Swedish: måste (sv)
• Turkish: gereklilik (tr), zorunluluk (tr), olmazsa olmaz (tr), şart (tr), koşul (tr), şıra (tr)

Etymology 2

Old French must, most, from Latin mustum

Noun

must (plural musts)

1. The property of being stale or musty
2. Something that exhibits the property of being stale or musty
3. Fruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually grapes
   • Longfellow

     No fermenting must fills […] the deep vats.

Translations

unfermented fruit juice

• Albanian: musht (sq) m
• Aromanian: mustu (rup)
• French: moût (fr) m or mout (fr) m
• Greek: μούστος (el) (moústos) m
• Italian: mosto (it)
• Latin: mustum (la)

• Romanian: must (ro)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мошт (sh) m

  Roman: mošt (sh) m

• Spanish: mosto (es) m

Verb

must (third-person singular simple present musts, present participle musting, simple past and past participle musted)

1. (transitive) To make musty.
2. (intransitive) To become musty.

External links

• Must on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 3

Persian مست (mast, “drunk, inebriated”), from Middle Persian 𐭬𐭮𐭲 (mast).

Noun

must

1. A time during which male elephants exhibit increased levels of sexual activity and aggressiveness (also musth)
   • 1936, George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant essay in magazine New Writing

     It was not, of course, a wild elephant, but a tame one which had gone ‘must’.

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: did · such · great · #86: must · these · two · us

Anagrams

• smut, stum, tums, UMTS, UTMS

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Akkala Sami

Pronoun

muśtˑ

1. in me (first-person singular pronoun, locative)

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Estonian

Adjective

must (genitive musta, partitive musta)

1. black (color)
2. dirty, unclean

Declension

This Estonian adjective needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

• must auk

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Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmuʃt/
• Hyphenation: must

Noun

must (plural mustok)

1. must (sweet fresh grape juice that has not fermented yet)

Declension

declension of must singular plural nominative must mustok accusative mustot mustokat dative mustnak mustoknak instrumental musttal mustokkal causal-final mustért mustokért translative musttá mustokká terminative mustig mustokig essive-formal mustként mustokként essive-modal - - inessive mustban mustokban superessive muston mustokon adessive mustnál mustoknál illative mustba mustokba sublative mustra mustokra allative musthoz mustokhoz elative mustból mustokból delative mustról mustokról ablative musttól mustoktól

possessives of must possessor singular possession plural possession 1st person sing. mustom mustjaim 2nd person sing. mustod mustjaid 3rd person sing. mustja mustjai 1st person plural mustunk mustjaink 2nd person plural mustotok mustjaitok 3rd person plural mustjuk mustjaik

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Romanian

Etymology

From Latin mustum.

Noun

must n (plural musturi)

1. unfermented wine; grape or other fruit juice
2. must (of grapes)

Declension

declension of must

	singular		plural
gender n	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	un must	mustul	niște musturi	musturile
genitive/dative	unui must	mustului	unor musturi	musturilor

Related terms

• mustos

See also

• zeamă, suc

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Swedish

Etymology

Old Norse muster, moster, from Latin mustum.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mɵst/

Noun

must c (uncountable)

1. A kind of soft drink, more commonly known as julmust
2. Unfermented fruit juice

Declension

Declension of must

	uncountable		uncountable
Common	indefinite	definite
nominative	must	musten
genitive	musts	mustens

See also

• Must on the Swedish Wikipedia.sv.Wikipedia

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Veps

Adjective

must

1. black

Noun

must

1. black