not

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English not, also nat (1303 in Barnhart),^[2][3] an unstressed, reduced form of noht or naht, in no way, the adverb now written nought and naught,^{[4][3][5][6][7]} inherited from Old English nāwiht (“nothing”), also nōwiht,^[8] literally "no whit", from nā (“no”) and wiht (“thing, creature”).^[4][9] Etymonline takes the first part from Proto-Indo-European *ne- (“not”).^[4] Ayto and the OED also allow a formation from ne (“not”) and ōwiht (“anything”), the ancestor of aught.^[10][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a plain negator before a verb, 1299, in the borough records of Northampton;^[5] after the verb be in Floris and Blauncheflur, composed about 1250 and copied before 1300: heo is not here, she is not here.^[5][2] Barnhart dates the form not to about 1250.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old English and early Middle English a sentence was negated with the particle ne, and noht was added to it for emphasis; by the end of the 13th century noht was widely used alone, and in its weakly stressed position it was reduced to not.^[10] In Middle English not could follow a full verb (from about 1330), a use now archaic, literary or humorous;^[5] it followed an auxiliary verb from about 1350, and negated a to-infinitive from before 1382.^[5] The reduced form n't, joined to an auxiliary or to be (isn't, don't), now predominates in speech, while the full form is the written standard and is used in speech for emphasis.^[5] The noun not, nothing, was a late Middle English variant of nought;^[11][2] from the early 17th century a not was also the word itself, a negation,^[11] and in logic and computing NOT names an operator that reverses a statement (1947).^[12][11] The jocular Not! after a statement, to show that it was not meant, is attested by 1900;^[4] Etymonline credits its popularity to the Wayne's World sketches on Saturday Night Live from 1989,^[4] the Oxford Dictionary of English to the film Wayne's World (1992).^[13] Since 1986 the OED also records not in ironic sentences with the complement placed first.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – the negative adverb, a reduced form of noht.^[3][4] The OED's first record, with not before a verb, is from 1299.^[5]
• before 1300 – following the verb be.^[5][2]
• c. 1330 – following a full verb.^[5]
• c. 1350 – following an auxiliary verb.^[5]
• before 1382 – with a to-infinitive.^[5]
• early 17th century – noun, the word not; a negation.^[11]
• 1900 – interjection, after a statement, to deny it jokingly.^[4]
• 1947 – the logical operator NOT.^[12]
• 1986 – in ironic sentences with the complement first.^[5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Used to make a word, phrase or clause negative; often reduced to n't after an auxiliary verb or be: The museum is not open on Mondays or They didn't call.^[9][12][11]
2. Used alone in place of a whole negative clause: I hope not.^[9][4]
3. not that: which is not to say that: I lost again, not that it matters.^[9]

Interjection

1. (slang) Added after a statement to show that it was meant sarcastically.^[4][13]

Noun

1. (logic, computing) A logical operator that reverses the truth value of a statement.^[12][11]

Word family

• not-for-profit
• whatnot

Related words

• ain't
• aren't
• can't
• cannot
• daren't
• doesn't
• don't
• didn't
• forget-me-not
• hadn't
• hasn't
• have-not
• haven't
• isn't
• mightn't
• needn't
• neither
• no
• nor
• notwithstanding
• shan't
• shouldn't
• wasn't
• won't
• wouldn't
• aught
• naught
• nought

Usage notes

Etymonline notes that the construction not un- (not unkind) was derided by Orwell, but is old in English and was popular with Milton and the Old English poets.^[4] A dialect adjective not, also nott, close-cropped or (of sheep and cattle) hornless, has a separate source, Old English hnot, of unknown origin;^[11][2] the Dialect Dictionary records it in the south and west of England.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)