Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “-n’t” come from?

-n’t (English) comes from English Not, from Middle English not, from Middle English nought, from Old English nōwiht, from Old English ne, from Old English ealles, from Old English -es, from Proto-Germanic -as — Creates action nouns or result nouns from verbs;...

Ancestry of “-n’t”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishNot—
2Middle Englishnotnot; nothing, nought; nobody, no person
3Middle Englishnoughtnothing, none; not; iniquitous, wicked
4Old Englishnōwiht—
5Old Englishnenot; or, and not; "ne... ne..." is used to mean "...
6Old Englisheallescompletely, wholly, entirely; totally,...
7Old English-espossessive marker, indicating that an object...
8Proto-Germanic-as—
9Proto-Indo-European-ēsPrimarily forms adjectival bahuvrīhi compounds
10Proto-Indo-European-ess—
11Proto-Indo-European-osCreates action nouns or result nouns from verbs;...
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -os →