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or not

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Singapore[ɔ˨ nɔt˨]

or not particle: final interrogative particle, forming a yes/no question from a declarative statement.

Particle

or not

  1. (Malaysia, Singapore, colloquial) Final interrogative particle, forming a yes/no question from a declarative statement.
    • Are you coming or not?
    • You want to go see snow or not, Ma?2009, Jean Tay, Boom, Epigram Books, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii
    Synonyms:
    is it

Phrase

or not

  1. Emphasizes that a particular claim or idea makes no difference regarding what can or has happened.
  2. A sardonic response to a new event that contradicts what the speaker has just stated.
    • "I bet the green car will make it unscathed!" said Mildred. Suddenly, there came a loud crunch from the racetrack. "Or not," she sighed.

Synonyms of or not

Forms of or not

alternative Singaporeanot
alternative Singaporeornot

Origin of or not

Calque of Hokkien 抑無 /抑无 (a̍h-bô / á-bô, literally “or not; or no; or none”). See also Hokkien 是毋是 (sī-m̄-sī / sǐ-m̄-sǐ, “whether or not”), 是抑毋是 (sī á-m̄-sī / sǐ á-m̄-sǐ, “isn't?”, literally “is it? or is it not?”), Mandarin 是不是 (shìbùshì, “whether or not”), forming a question, and similar interrogative expressions with 不, 無 /无, 唔 and other dialectal synonyms.

Questions about or not

What does or not mean?
Or not means final interrogative particle, forming a yes/no question from a declarative statement.
What part of speech is or not?
Or not can be a particle or a phrase.
How do you pronounce or not?
Or not is pronounced [ɔ˨ nɔt˨] (Singapore).

Words near or not in the dictionary

  1. or else
  2. OR gate
  3. OR gates
  4. or hor
  5. or it didn't happen
  6. or not
  7. or should I say
  8. or so
  9. or so on
  10. or something
  11. or what

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: or not (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-or not.ogg.

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