won't

See also: wont and wo'n't

English

Alternative forms

wo'n't (archaic)
wonnot (obsolete)

Etymology

From earlier wonnot, from Middle English wynnot, wilnot, wolnot, wilnat, a contraction of Middle English will not, wil not, wyll not, will noght, wil noht, willi noȝt, wyl nat, wol not, woll not, wole not, wolle not, wol nat, woll nat, etc., equivalent to a will +‎ not and/or woll +‎ not.^[1] For the pronunciation with /oʊ/, /əʊ/, see poultry.^[2]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wəʊnt/
(General American) enPR: wōnt, IPA^(key): /woʊnt/, [wõt(ˀ)], [wõʔ]
(Canada) IPA^(key): [woːnt]
- (nonstandard) IPA^(key): [wo(ː)ɫnt], [wʊ(ɫ)nt]
Audio (US): (file)
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Homophone: wont (one pronunciation)
Rhymes: -əʊnt

Verb

won't

will not (negative auxiliary^[3]); used to indicate a future non-occurring action.
Sam won't be doing any work this afternoon.

Synonyms

(will not): (archaic) willn't, wolln't, wo'n't, wonnot

Coordinate terms

can't, couldn't, mayn't, mightn't, oughtn't, shan't, shouldn't, wouldn't

Translations

contraction of “will not”

Chinese:
Mandarin: 不會 / 不会 (zh) (bùhuì)
Maori: e kore ... e, kāore ... mō te (+ verb)
Serbo-Croatian: ne (sh) htjeti (sh)

References

^ https://web.archive.org/web/20170604050039/http://www.dictionary.com/browse/won-t
^ Dobson, E. J. (1957) English pronunciation 1500-1700‎^[1], second edition, volume II: Phonology, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1968, →OCLC, § 425, page 990.
^ Arnold M. Zwicky and Geoffrey K. Pullum, Cliticization vs. Inflection: English n’t, Language 59 (3), 1983, pp. 502-513

Anagrams

Town, nowt, town

[1] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20170604050039/http://www.dictionary.com/browse/won-t

[2] Dobson, E. J. (1957) English pronunciation 1500-1700‎^[1], second edition, volume II: Phonology, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1968, →OCLC, § 425, page 990.

[3] Arnold M. Zwicky and Geoffrey K. Pullum, Cliticization vs. Inflection: English n’t, Language 59 (3), 1983, pp. 502-513

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