mayn't

mayn't

English

Etymology

may +‎ -n't

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪənt/
• Hyphenation: may‧n't

Verb

mayn't (third-person singular simple present mayn't, present participle -, simple past mightn't, past participle - or (obsolete) moughtn't)

1. (colloquial, now rare, dated) may not (negative auxiliary[1])
   • 1841 — Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge, ch 40

     I mayn't have much head, master, but I’ve head enough to remember those that use me ill.

   • 1861 — George Eliot, Silas Marner, ch 17

     "Now, father," said Nancy, "is there any call for you to go home to tea? Mayn't you just as well stay with us?--such a beautiful evening as it's likely to be."

   • 1897 — Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, ch 9

     "Yes, we went to school in the sea, though you mayn't believe it——"

   • 1914 — Saki, The Romancers

     You mayn't hardly believe it, but at the present moment I am absolutely without a farthing.

   • 1930 — H. P. Lovecraft, Madusa's Coil

     I can't help about other people. But I surely would like to have a spot to stop till daylight. Still - if people don't relish this place, mayn't it be because it's getting so run-down?

Translations

contraction of "may not", might not

Maori: kei kore

References

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

Anagrams

• manty