not

See also nöt, nøt, nót, nốt, Not, NOT, and nôt

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English not, nat, variant of noght, naht (“not, nothing”), from Old English *nōht, nāht (“nought, nothing”), short for nōwiht, nāwiht (“nothing”, literally “no thing, no creature”), corresponding to nā (“no”) + 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 and aught. More at no, wight.

Pronunciation

• (UK)
  • IPA: /nɒt/, X-SAMPA: /nQt/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US)
  • IPA: /nɑt/, X-SAMPA: /nAt/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒt
• Homophones: knot, naught (some dialects)

Adverb

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 notes

In modern usage, 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, need):

• 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 in the US.

• You don’t need to trouble yourself. (US)
• You needn’t trouble yourself. (outside US)
• I don’t need any eggs today. (universal)

The verb dare can sometimes be directly negated.

• I daren't do that.

Related terms

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

Translations

negates meaning of verb

• Afrikaans: nie
• Albanian: nuk (sq)
• Amuzgo: chi
• Arabic: لا (ar) (laa), (past tense, continuous present) ما (ar) (maa), (only past tense, imperfective) لم (ar) (lam), (future tense) لن (ar) (lan), (verb - "to be not") ليس (ar) (láysa)

  Egyptian: مش (miš) or (muš)

• Armenian: չ- (hy) (č-) + (verb)
• Asturian: nun (ast)
• Azeri: deyil (az)
• Bashkir: түгел
• Basque: ez
• Belarusian: не (be) (nje), ня (be) (nja)
• Bulgarian: не (bg) (ne)
• Burmese: မ (my) (mă) + verb + ဘူး (my) (bu:)
• Catalan: no
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵓⵔ (ur) + verb, ⵓⵔⴷ (urd) + noun/pronoun
• Chamicuro: kala
• Chinese:

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

  Mandarin: 不 (cmn) (bù), (past tense, or with 有) 沒 (cmn), 没 (cmn) (méi), 沒有 (cmn), 没有 (cmn) (méiyǒu)

• Czech: ne- (cs)
• Danish: ikke (da), ej (da)
• Dutch: niet (nl)
• Esperanto: ne (eo)
• Estonian: ei (et)
• Faroese: ikki (fo), ei (fo)
• Finnish: ei (fi)
• French: ne ... pas, pas (fr), ne (fr) (see entries for usage)
• Galician: non (gl)
• Georgian: არ (ka) (ar)
• German: nicht (de)
• Greek: δεν (el) (den), δε (el) (de), μη (el) (mi)
• 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 (is) (dated)
• Indonesian: bukan (id), tidak (id), tak (id)
• Interlingua: non
• Irish: ní (ga), níor (ga) (before past tenses); cha (ga), chan (ga), char (ga) (before past tenses); gan (ga) (in conjunction with a verbal noun)

  Old Irish: ní, nícon

• Italian: non (it)
• Japanese: ...ではない (ja) (de wa nai) (be not) , ...ない (ja) (nai), (polite final form) -ません (ja) (...masen)
• Khmer: មិន...ទេ (km) (min … teː)
• Korean: 안 (ko) (an), (be not) ...아니다 (ko) (...anida)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: نه‌ (ku), نا (ku)

• Lao: ບໍ່ (lo) (böö)
• Latin: non (la), nil (la), haud (la), hau (la), haut (la), nunquam (la), ne (la), nec (la), neque (la)
• Latvian: ne- (lv)
• Lithuanian: ne- (lt)
• Lojban: na (jbo)
• Macedonian: не (mk) (ne)
• Malay: tidak (ms), bukan (ms)
• Maltese: mhux (mt), lanqas (mt)
• Mongolian: -гүй (mn) (-güj)
• Navajo: dooda
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ikke (no), ei (no)

  Nynorsk: ikkje (nn), ei (nn)

• Novial: non
• Occitan: non (oc)
• Old English: ne (ang)
• Old Frisian: ne, ni
• Old Saxon: ne, ni
• Persian: نه (fa) (na)
• Polish: nie (pl)
• Portuguese: não (pt)
• Quechua: ama
• Rapa Nui: kai, hoki (used in a question when expecting an affirmative answer)
• Romanian: nu (ro)
• Russian: не (ru) (ne)
• Sanskrit: न (sa) (na)
• Scottish Gaelic: chan eil, chan, cha
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: не (sh)

  Roman: ne (sh)

• Slovak: ne- (sk)
• Slovene: nè (sl)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: nje-

• Spanish: no (es)
• Swedish: inte (sv), ej (sv), icke (sv)
• Tagalog: hindi (tl)
• Thai: ไม่ (th) (mâi), ไม่ใช่ (th) (mâi châi)
• Turkish: değil (tr), -ma (tr), -me (tr)
• Tz'utujil: ma
• Ukrainian: не (uk) (ne)
• Urdu: نہیں (ur) (nahī̃), (don't) نہ (ur) (na), (don't, more abrupt) مت (ur) (mat)
• Vietnamese: không (vi), (for emphasis) chẳng (vi)
• Welsh: dim (cy)
• West Frisian: net (fy)
• Yiddish: ניט (yi) (nit), נישט (yi) (nisht)
• ǃXóõ: ǁʻàa (not be)

Conjunction

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 notes

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

Translations

And not

• Arabic: (verb) ليس (ar) (láysa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不是 (cmn) (bú shì)

• Czech: ne (cs), nikoliv (cs)
• Dutch: geen (nl), niet (nl)
• Estonian: mitte (et)
• Finnish: ei (fi)
• French: ne...pas, non (fr)
• Georgian: და არა (ka) (da ara)
• German: nicht (de)
• Greek: όχι (el) (óchi)
• Hebrew: ‎ולא (v'ló)
• Hungarian: nem pedig
• Icelandic: ekki (is), ei (is) (dated), eigi (is) (dated)

• Italian: mica (it)
• Japanese: (...) ではなく (ja) (dewa naku)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: نه‌ک (ku)

• Malay: bukan (ms)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ikke (nb)

  Nynorsk: ikkje (nn)

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

Interjection

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!

Synonyms

• I don't think

Translations

Translations

• Danish: ikke (da)
• Faroese: ikki (fo)
• Icelandic: ekki (is)
• Japanese: じゃない (ja) (ja nai)
• Malay: tidak (ms), tak (ms)

• Norwegian Bokmål: ikke (no)
• Norwegian Høgnorsk: ikkja
• Norwegian Nynorsk: ikkje (nn)
• Old Norse: ekki
• Swedish: inte (sv), icke (sv), ej (sv)

See also

• Appendix:American Dialect Society words of the year

Noun

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 terms

• NOR

Translations

unary negation function

• Finnish: EI (fi)

• Swedish: icke (sv)

See also

• AND
• OR
• NAND
• XOR

See also

if then else and

or true false

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: as · had · you · #18: not · be · at · by

Anagrams

• Ont, Ont., TNO, ton

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Albanian

Etymology

From notoj.

Noun

not m

1. a swim

Related terms

• notoj or bën not to swim

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Aromanian

Verb

not

1. Alternative form of anot. to swim

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Icelandic

Noun

not n pl (plurale tantum, genitive plural nota)

1. use

Declension

declension of not

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

Derived terms

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

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Lojban

Rafsi

not

1. rafsi of notci.

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Romansch

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

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

Noun

not f (plural nots)

1. (Puter, Vallader) night

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Scottish Gaelic

Noun

not m (genitive not, plural notaichean)

1. Alternative form of nota.

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Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈnuːt/

Noun

not c

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

Declension

Declension of not

	singular		plural
Common	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	not	noten	noter	noterna
genitive	nots	notens	noters	noternas

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Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English North.

Noun

not

1. North

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Turkish

Noun

not (definite accusative notu, plural notlar)

1. a short message; note

   Not: Seni seviyorum.

   PS: I love you.

Declension

declension of not

	singular (tekil)	plural (çoğul)
nominative (yalın)	not	notlar
definite accusative (belirtme)	notu	notları
dative (yönelme)	nota	notlara
locative (bulunma)	notta	notlarda
ablative (çıkma)	nottan	notlardan
genitive (tamlayan)	notun	notların