Word.ws English Dictionary

-n't

/(ə)nt/

-n't suffix: negates the meaning of the clause in which it occurs.

Suffix

-n't

  1. (idiomatic, unless humorous) Negates the meaning of the clause in which it occurs.
    • It is a beautiful bouquet! You needn't've bothered, thank you.

Forms of -n't

alternative form (obsolete)-'nt

Origin of -n't

From both univerbations of not and some preceding words (see usage notes), with following elision of the medial vowel, as well as univerbations of already reduced n't with preceding words.

Questions about -n't

What does -n't mean?
-n't means negates the meaning of the clause in which it occurs.
What part of speech is -n't?
-n't is a suffix.
How do you pronounce -n't?
-n't is pronounced /(ə)nt/.

Words near -n't in the dictionary

  1. -mu-
  2. -mul-
  3. -mycete
  4. -mycin
  5. -n
  6. -n't
  7. -n-
  8. -na
  9. -na adjective
  10. -na adjectives
  11. -nab

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: -n't (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “-n't.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-n%27t. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.