mightn't

mightn't

English

Etymology

might +‎ -n't

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪt.n̩t/, /ˈmaɪʔ.n̩t/

Verb

mightn't

1. (Britain) might not (negative auxiliary[1])
   • 1931, Mary Hunter Austin, Starry Adventure (page 274)

     Her driver was new to the country; he mightn't be prepared for the leaping of the yellow water down dry arroyos, swift as the pouncings of a cat, or the snake-like slidings of tons of loosened rock and clay from the steep potreros […]

   • 1963, Perry Mason, The Case of the Greek Goddess (Television Season 6, Episode 25)

     “But, mightn’t there have been something unusual about the Stimatis contract itself?” [Perry Mason cross-examining Roger Correll.]

   • 1974, Mario Vargas Llosa, Conversation in the Cathedral: A Novel‎, Harper & Row (First Rayo Edition, 2005), page 275:

     "But at night she would still think the same thing: mightn't it be that he wouldn't come to see her anymore?"

Translations

contraction of might not

Maori: kei kore

See also

• Appendix:English modal verbs
• Appendix:English tag questions

References

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