dunno

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdʌnəʊ/, /dəˈnəʊ/
• IPA^(key): /dəˈnoʊ/; /dn̩oʊ/ (e.g. I dunno is /ˈaɪdn̩oʊ/)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Contraction

dunno

1. Eye dialect spelling of do not know; eye dialect spelling of does not know.

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

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

Usage notes

This is one of the only verb forms in English that regularly does 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.

Translations

do (does) not know

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不知道 (bù zhīdào)

• Dutch: weet ik het niet, kweenie
• French: (colloquial) chais pas
• German: (colloquial) weiß nich
• Hebrew: לוידע (lóydea)
• Italian: (colloquial) boh (it)
• Japanese: 分からん (wakaran), 知らん (shiran)
• Latin: nescio
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malay: tak tau, tak tahu, entah
• Maori: aua, aua hoki, e aua hoki
• Polish: nie wiem, nie wie
• Portuguese: (colloquial) sei lá (pt)
• Russian: не знать (ne znatʹ), не зна́ю (ne znáju), неизве́стно (ru) (neizvéstno)
• Spanish: (colloquial mexico 1st person sing.) sepa (es), (Chile) sabí
• Swedish: (colloquial) venne (sv), vet inte
• Thai: มะรุ (má-rú)
• Ukrainian: не знаю (ne znaju)

Noun

dunno (plural dunnos)

1. An utterance of the word dunno.

References

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