won't

See also: wont, wo'n't, and wɔ́nt

English

Alternative forms

wo'n't (archaic)
wonnot (obsolete)

Etymology

From earlier wonnot, from Middle English wynnot, wilnot, wolnot, wilnat, a contraction of Middle English will not, wil not, wyll not, will noght, wil noht, willi noȝt, wyl nat, wol not, woll not, wole not, wolle not, wol nat, woll nat, etc., equivalent to a will +‎ not and/or woll +‎ not.^[1] For the pronunciation with /oʊ/, /əʊ/, see poultry.^[2]

Pronunciation

(UK)
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: wōnt, IPA^(key): /wəʊnt/
- (Northumbria) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪnɪt/
  - (contraction) IPA^(key): /wɪnt/
(General American) enPR: wōnt, IPA^(key): /woʊnt/, [wõt(ˀ)], [wõʔ]
- Audio (US): (file)
(US dialectal) enPR: wŭnt, wo͞ont, wo͝ont, IPA^(key): /wʌnt/, /wunt/, /wʊnt/^[3]^[4]
(Canada) IPA^(key): [woːnt]
- (dialectal) IPA^(key): [wo(ː)ɫnt], [wʊ(ɫ)nt]
Audio (Australia): (file)
Homophone: wont (one pronunciation)
Rhymes: -əʊnt

Verb

won't

will not (negative auxiliary^[5]); used to indicate a future non-occurring action.
Sam won't be doing any work this afternoon.
doesn't want to
He either can't or won't do anything about it.

Synonyms

(will not): (archaic) willn't, wolln't, wo'n't, wonnot

Coordinate terms

can't, couldn't, mayn't, mightn't, oughtn't, shan't, shouldn't, wouldn't

Translations

contraction of “will not”

Arabic: لَنْ (lan)
Tunisian Arabic: مُوش بِاش (mūš bēš)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 不會 / 不会 (zh) (bùhuì)
Māori: e kore ... e (+ verb), kāore ... mō te (+ verb)
Polish: nie (pl) (+ verb in the future tense)
Serbo-Croatian: ne (sh) htjeti (sh)

References

^ https://web.archive.org/web/20170604050039/http://www.dictionary.com/browse/won-t
^ Dobson, E[ric] J. (1957), English pronunciation 1500-1700‎^[1], second edition, volume II: Phonology, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1968, →OCLC, § 425, page 990.
^ Kurath, Hans; McDavid, Raven I., Jr. (1961), The pronunciation of English in the Atlantic States: based upon the collections of the linguistic atlas of the Eastern United States‎^[2], Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, § 5.9, page 159.
^ McDavid, Raven Ioor Jr. (1949), “45. Review of Thomas 1947: An Introduction to the Phonetics of American English”, in William A. Kretzschmar, Jr., editor, Dialects in culture: essays in general dialectology‎^[3], University, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, published 1979, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 336.
^ Arnold M. Zwicky and Geoffrey K. Pullum, Cliticization vs. Inflection: English n’t, Language 59 (3), 1983, pp. 502-513

Anagrams

Town, nowt, town

[1] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20170604050039/http://www.dictionary.com/browse/won-t

[2] Dobson, E[ric] J. (1957), English pronunciation 1500-1700‎^[1], second edition, volume II: Phonology, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1968, →OCLC, § 425, page 990.

[3] Kurath, Hans; McDavid, Raven I., Jr. (1961), The pronunciation of English in the Atlantic States: based upon the collections of the linguistic atlas of the Eastern United States‎^[2], Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, § 5.9, page 159.

[4] McDavid, Raven Ioor Jr. (1949), “45. Review of Thomas 1947: An Introduction to the Phonetics of American English”, in William A. Kretzschmar, Jr., editor, Dialects in culture: essays in general dialectology‎^[3], University, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, published 1979, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 336.

[5] Arnold M. Zwicky and Geoffrey K. Pullum, Cliticization vs. Inflection: English n’t, Language 59 (3), 1983, pp. 502-513

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