mayn't

English

Etymology

may +‎ -n't

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /meɪnt/, IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪ.ənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪnt, -eɪənt
• Hyphenation: may‧n't

Verb

mayn't (third-person singular simple present mayn't, no present participle, simple past mightn't, no past participle)

1. (colloquial, now rare, dated) may not (negative auxiliary)
   • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, chapter 40:

     I mayn't have much head, master, but I’ve head enough to remember those that use me ill.

   • 1861, George Eliot, chapter 17, in Silas Marner:

     "Now, father," said Nancy, "is there any call for you to go home to tea? Mayn't you just as well stay with us?--such a beautiful evening as it's likely to be."

   • 1865 November (indicated as 1866), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “The Mock Turtle’s Story”, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 142:

     "Yes, we went to school in the sea, though you mayn't believe it—"

   • 1914, Saki, The Romancers:

     You mayn't hardly believe it, but at the present moment I am absolutely without a farthing.

   • 1930, H. P. Lovecraft, Madusa's Coil:

     I can't help about other people. But I surely would like to have a spot to stop till daylight. Still - if people don't relish this place, mayn't it be because it's getting so run-down?

Coordinate terms

• can't, couldn't, mightn't, oughtn't, shan't, shouldn't, won't, wouldn't

Translations

contraction of "may not", might not

• Maori: kei kore

Anagrams

• manty