not

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Archived revision by AlephU91 (talk | contribs) as of 20:28, 11 January 2020.
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See also: Not, NOT, nót, nôt, nốt, nőt, not., and Appendix:Variations of "not"

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
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 “not anything”), corresponding to ne (“not”) + ōwiht, āwiht (“anything”), corresponding to ā (“ever, always”) + 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, naught and aught. More at no, wight, whit.

Pronunciation

Adverb

not (not comparable)

  1. Negates the meaning of the modified verb.
    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 green.
    It's not you, it's me.
  3. Used to modify superlatives to indicate the opposite or near opposite, often in a form of understatement.
    That day was not the best day of my life.
    It was not my favorite movie of all time.

Usage notes

In modern usage, do-support requires that the form do not ... (or don’t ...) be preferred to ... not for all but a short list of verbs (be, have, can, shall, will, would, may, must, need, ought):

  • 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, especially in the US.

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

The verb dare can sometimes be directly negated.

  • I daren't do that.

The verb do, as a main verb, takes do not.

  • He does not do that.

In the imperative, all verbs, including be, take do not.

  • Don't do that.
  • Don't be silly. (not *Be not silly.)

In the infinitive, verbs must be negated directly. In this case not cannot appear after the verb; some authorities recommend placing it before to to avoid a split infinitive, but for most speakers the forms not to do and to not do are more or less interchangeable, with the latter being mostly informal.

  • The objective is not to lose or The objective is to not lose.
  • I wanted not to go or I wanted to not go. (Note the difference between this and I didn't want to go, where want is the verb being negated.)

Derived terms

Related terms

negates meaning of verb

Template:rel-mid3

Template:rel-mid3

Translations

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

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

Translations

Translations

See also

Noun

not (plural nots)

  1. alternative typography of NOT

Usage notes

Boolean operators and states are commonly written in all uppercase in order to distinguish them from the ordinary uses of the words.

Translations

Contraction

not

  1. (obsolete) Contraction of ne wot; to know not.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Geoffrey Chaucer, The Knight's Tale.
      I noot which was the fairer of hem two

See also

Template:mid2

References

  • “not”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

Albanian

Etymology

From notoj.

Noun

not m

  1. a swim

Related terms

Aromanian

Etymology 1

From Greek νότος (nótos).

Alternative forms

Noun

not m

  1. dry wind from the south

Synonyms

See also

Etymology 2

Verb

not

  1. Alternative form of anot to swim

Etymology 3

From anot (“I swim”). Compare Italian nuoto, Portuguese nado.

Noun

not m

  1. swim, swimming

Synonyms

Danish

Danish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia da

Etymology 1

From German Nut.

Noun

not c (singular definite noten, plural indefinite noter)

  1. (mechanics) A groove.
Inflection
Declension of not
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative not noten noter noterne
genitive nots notens noters noternes

Etymology 2

Danish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia da

From Norwegian not.

Noun

not class /n (singular definite noten or notet, plural indefinite noter or not)

  1. (fishing) seine net
    Synonym: snurpenot
Inflection
Declension of not
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative not noten
notet 		noter
not 		noterne
notene
genitive nots notens
notets 		noters
nots 		noternes
notenes
Derived terms

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

not

  1. (deprecated template usage) imperative of note

Icelandic

Pronunciation

Noun

not n pl (plurale tantum)

  1. use

Declension

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

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Luxembourgish

Adjective

not

  1. strong/weak nominative/accusative neuter singular of no

Old English

Alternative forms

  • nōt

Etymology

From Latin nota.

Pronunciation

Noun

not m (nominative plural notas)

  1. a sign; mark; a mark made on an object

Declension

Declension of not (strong a-stem)
Case Singular Plural
nominative not notas
accusative not notas
genitive notes nota
dative note notum

Descendants

  • Middle English: note, noote

Old Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse nót, from Proto-Germanic *nōtō.

Pronunciation

Noun

nōt f

  1. net, seine

Declension

  Declension of not (strong ō-stem)
masculine singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative nōt nōtin nōtar nōtarnar, nōtanar
accusative nōt nōtina nōtar nōtarnar, nōtanar
dative nōt, nōto nōtinni, nōtinne nōtum, nōtom nōtumin, nōtomen
genitive nōtar nōtarinnar nōta nōtanna

Descendants

Romansch

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

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

Noun

not f (plural nots)

  1. (Puter, Vallader) night

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

not m (genitive singular not, plural notaichean)

  1. Alternative form of nota.

Swedish

Pronunciation

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
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative not noten noter noterna
Genitive nots notens noters noternas

Anagrams

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English North.

Noun

not

  1. North

Turkish

Noun

not (definite accusative notu, plural notlar)

  1. a short message; note
    Not: Seni seviyorum. ― PS: I love you.

Declension

Inflection
Nominative not
Definite accusative notu
Singular Plural
Nominative not notlar
Definite accusative notu notları
Dative nota notlara
Locative notta notlarda
Ablative nottan notlardan
Genitive notun notların
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