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Not

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not¹

  • /nɒt/ UK
  • /nɔt/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /nɑt/ US
  • /nɒt/ Canada
  • /nɔt/ Australia
  • /nɒt/ New Zealand
  • [nɔ̟t] New Zealand
  • [nɞt] Ireland
  • [näʔ]

Sounds like knot, (cot–caught merger) naught, nought · Rhymes with -ɒt

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *né

Proto-Germanic *ne

Proto-West Germanic *ne

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ey-

Proto-Indo-European *-u

Proto-Indo-European *h₂óyu

Proto-Indo-European *-osinflu.

Proto-Germanic *aiwaz

Proto-West Germanic *aiw

univ.

Proto-West Germanic *naiw

Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ-

Proto-Indo-European *-tis

Proto-Indo-European *wékʷtisder.?

Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ-

Proto-Indo-European *-tis

Proto-Indo-European *wéǵʰtisder.?

Proto-Germanic *wihtą

Proto-West Germanic *wiht

Proto-West Germanic *naiwwiht

Old English nāwiht

Old English *nōht

Middle English nought

Middle English not

English not

From Middle English not, nat, a variant of noght, naht (“not, nothing”), from Old English *nōht, nāht (“nought, nothing”), shortening of nōwiht, nāwiht (“nothing”, literally “not anything”), from Proto-West Germanic *naiwwiht, 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.

adverb

  1. not comparable Negates the meaning of the modified verb. Did you take out the trash? — No, I did not. I do not think it was my turn, was it?
  2. not comparable To no degree. That is not red; it's green.
  3. not comparable Used to indicate the opposite or near opposite, often in a form of understatement. That day was not the best day of my life. (meaning the day was bad or awful)
  4. not comparable Used before a determiner phrase, a pronominal phrase etc. to convey a negative attitude (e.g. denial, sadness, anger) towards something. Oh god, not that! Anything but that!
  5. informal, ironic, not comparable Used before a non-finite clause (especially a gerund-participial clause) or less commonly a determiner phrase to ironically convey some attitude (e.g. surprise, incredulity, amusement, or embarrassment) towards something. Not me writing example sentences again.

conjunction

  1. And not. I wanted a plate of shrimp, not a bucket of chicken.

interjection not!

  1. slang Used to indicate that the previous phrase was meant sarcastically or ironically. Near-synonyms: I don't think; psych; bender (obsolete, UK)

noun nots

  1. An instance of using the word “not”; a negation or denial. The children are taught to be afraid of winter, of war, of death, of hard times, of disease, of examinations. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that children so seldom find the conversation of their elders uplifting. It is full of don’ts, buts and nots.
  2. Alternative letter-case form of NOT (“unary operation on logical values that changes true to false, and false to true”).NOT

Not²

proper noun Nut · Nunut · Nenet · Nuit

  1. Egyptian, alternative Alternative spelling of Nut.Nut

NOT³

noun NOTs

  1. A unary operation on logical values that changes true to false, and false to true. Notice that the NOT symbol is simply a BUF symbol followed by a bubble. The bubble represents logical inversion and is the actual NOT gate. Anytime you see a bubble attached to a gate pin, you can detach it from the pin and insert a separate NOT gate in its place without affecting the resulting logi

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