Word.ws English Dictionary

hadn't

/ˈhæd.n̩t/

hadn't is the contraction of had.

Meaning of had

Verb

had

  1. (auxiliary) Used to form the past perfect tense, expressing an action that took place prior to a reference point that is itself in the past.
    • I felt sure that I had seen him before.
  2. (archaic, auxiliary) As past subjunctive: would have.
    • Had I not known you were coming this evening, I'd have left at midday.

Forms of hadn't

alternative formhant
alternative formhedn't
alternative form (nonstandard, dialectal)hadna
alternative form (nonstandard, dialectal)hadnae

Origin of hadn't

From had + -n't.

Phrases with hadn't

Questions about hadn't

What is hadn't the contraction of?
Hadn't is the contraction of had.
How do you pronounce hadn't?
Hadn't is pronounced /ˈhæd.n̩t/.

Words near hadn't in the dictionary

  1. Hadlingtons
  2. Hadlock
  3. Hadlocks
  4. Hadlow
  5. Hadlyme
  6. hadn't
  7. hadn't a
  8. hadn't ought
  9. hadn't've
  10. hadna
  11. hadnae

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hadn't (page history and authors); had (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-hadn't.ogg.

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