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not

Pronunciation: /nɒt/

The English word “not” has 8 meanings listed here.

adverb

  1. Negates the meaning of the modified verb.
  2. To no degree.
  3. Used to indicate the opposite or near opposite, often in a form of understatement.
  4. Used before a determiner phrase, a pronominal phrase etc. to convey a negative attitude (e.g. denial, sadness, anger) towards something.
  5. 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.

conjunction

  1. And not.

interjection

  1. Used to indicate that the previous phrase was meant sarcastically or ironically.

noun

  1. An instance of using the word “not”; a negation or denial.

Etymology

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.