wouldn't
See also: wouldnt
English
Alternative forms
- wo'n't (archaic)
- wou'dn't (obsolete)
- wudn't (pronunciation spelling)
- wunt (Yorkshire, pronunciation spelling)
Etymology
Contraction of would not.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA(key): /ˈwʊdn̩t/
- (US) IPA(key): [wʊdⁿn̩t], [wʊɾənt]
- (Yorkshire) IPA(key): /ˈwʊnt/, [ˈwʊnʔ]
Audio (US) (file) Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ʊdn̩t, -ʊnt
Verb
wouldn't
- would not (negative auxiliary[1])
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 6, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
- She was so mad she wouldn't speak to me for quite a spell, but at last I coaxed her into going up to Miss Emmeline's room and fetching down a tintype of the missing Deacon man.
-
See also
- couldn't
- shouldn't
- oughtn't
- Appendix:English modal verbs
- Appendix:English tag questions
References
- Arnold M. Zwicky and Geoffrey K. Pullum, Cliticization vs. Inflection: English n’t, Language 59 (3), 1983, pp. 502-513