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don't. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
don't, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
don't in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
don't you have here. The definition of the word
don't will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
don't, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From do + -n't.
Depending on dialect, its use in the third-person singular may be from elision (in these dialects "does" is used when not in the negative) or from not using -s to mark the third-person singular at all.
Pronunciation
Verb
don't
- do not (negative auxiliary)
1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:“I don't know how you and the ‘head,’ as you call him, will get on, but I do know that if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. […] ”
- 1980, The Police, "Don't Stand So Close to Me", Zenyatta Mondatta, A&M Records:
- Don't stand, Don't stand so, Don't stand so close to me.
- 1990, Dave Mustaine, "Take No Prisoners", Megadeth, Rust in Peace.
Don't ask what you can do for your country / Ask what your country can do for you
2022 September 16, Joe Biden, quotee, 0:00 from the start, in President Biden warns Vladimir Putin not to use nuclear weapons: "Don't. Don't. Don't.", CBS News, archived from the original on 16 September 2022:Scott Pelley: As Ukraine succeeds on the battlefield, Vladimir Putin is becoming embarrassed and pushed into a corner, and I wonder Mr. President what you would say to him if he is considering using chemical or tactical nuclear weapons.
Biden: Don't. Don't. Don't. It would change the face of war unlike anything since World War II.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:don't.
- (nonstandard) does not
1868, Louisa May Alcott, chapter 2, in Little Women:My mother knows old Mr. Laurence, but says he’s very proud and don’t like to mix with his neighbors.
- 1971, Carol King, “So Far Away”, Tapestry, Ode Records:
- I sure hope the road don’t come to own me.
2000, “Stan”, in Eminem (music), The Marshall Mathers LP:My girlfriend's jealous 'cause I talk about you twenty-four seven / But she don't know you like I know you, Slim, no one does / She don't know what it was like for people like us growing up / You gotta call me man, I'll be the biggest fan you'll ever lose
2017, “Rico Acid”, Emily Blue (music):Love don't come easy, I know that it don't
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:don't.
- (African-American Vernacular) Used before an emphatic negative subject.
Don’t nobody care.
Usage notes
In fixed expressions, especially in children's speech, this word can be used positively, most particularly in the construction So don't I in response to a proud statement by the previous speaker.
Translations
do not
- Afrikaans: moenie (af)
- Albanian: mos (sq)
- Arabic: لَا (ar) (lā) (+ jussive of the verb)
- Ashkun: mā
- Belarusian: не (be) (nje)
- Bulgarian: не (bg) (ne)
- Burmese: မ (my) (ma.) verb နဲ့ (my) (nai.)
- Catalan: no (ca)
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 唔好 (m4 hou2), 咪 (mai5)
- Dungan: бә (bə), бо (bo), бу (bu)
- Eastern Min: 伓通 (n̂g-tĕ̤ng), 莫 (mŏ̤h)
- Hakka: 莫 (mo̍k), 毋使 (m̀-sṳ́)
- Hokkien: 伓通 (m̄-thang), 毋通 (zh-min-nan) (m̄-thang), 莫 (zh-min-nan) (mài)
- Mandarin: 不要 (zh) (bùyào), 別/别 (zh) (bié), 別價/别价 (zh), 别介 (zh) (biéjiè), 不 (zh) (bù)
- Northern Min: 莫 (mŏ̤)
- Wu: 勿要, 𧟰
- Czech: ne- (cs)
- Dutch: imperative + niet (nl), niet (nl) + infinitive
- Esperanto: ne (eo) + jussive
- Finnish: älä (fi) sg, älkää (fi) pl
- French: ne... verb ...pas, ne... verb ...point (literary, dialectal)
- Georgian: არ (ar), არ გააკეთო (ar gaaḳeto), ნუ (nu)
- German: imperative + nicht (de), nicht (de) + infinitive
- Hebrew: אל (he) (al) (+ future third person verb of appropriate gender and number)
- Hindi: न (hi) (na), (less polite) मत (hi) (mat)
- Hungarian: (negation) nem (hu), (prohibition) ne (hu)
- Icelandic: ekki (is) + infinitive
- Ido: ne (io)
- Indonesian: jangan (id)
- Irish: ná
- Italian: non (it)
- Japanese: terminal + な (ja) (na), (polite) ...ないでください (...naide kudasai)
- Kamkata-viri: nā
- Kapampangan: ali; e-
- Khmer: កុំ (km) (kom)
- Kikai: な (na)
- Korean: 지 말다 (-ji malda)
- Kunigami: な (na)
- Lao: ຢ່າ (yā)
- Latin: noli + infinitive (singular), nolite + infinitive (plural)
- Lü: ᦊᦱᧈ (ẏaa¹)
- Macedonian: не (ne)
- Malagasy: aza (mg)
- Malay: jangan (ms)
- Miyako: な (na)
- Mongolian: бүү (mn) (büü)
- Northern Amami-Oshima: な (na)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: ikke (no)
- Nynorsk: ikkje (nn)
- Oki-No-Erabu: な (na)
- Okinawan: な (na)
- Persian: نکن (fa) (nakon)
- Polish: nie (pl)
- Portuguese: não (pt)
- Prasuni: nā
- Romani: ma
- Romanian: nu (ro)
- Russian: не (ru) (ne)
- Sanskrit: मा (sa) (mā́)
- Scots: dinnae
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: не, немој
- Roman: ne (sh), nemoj
- Slovak: ne (sk)
- Slovene: ne (sl)
- Southern Amami-Oshima: な (na)
- Spanish: no (es)
- Swedish: verb ...inte (sv)
- Tagalog: huwag (tl)
- Thai: อย่า (th) (yàa)
- Toku-No-Shima: な (na)
- Ukrainian: не (uk) (ne)
- Urdu: نـ (na-), (less polite) مت (mat)
- Vietnamese: đừng (vi)
- Waigali: mā
- Welsh: na, peidio (cy)
- Yaeyama: な (na)
- Yiddish: נישט (nisht), ניט (nit)
- Yonaguni: な (na)
- Yoron: な (na)
- Zulu: musa sg, musani pl, kahle (zu) sg, kahleni pl
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Interjection
don't
- Stop!, Don't touch that!
Translations
Noun
don't (plural don'ts or don't's)
- Something that must not be done (usually in the phrase dos and don'ts).
Antonyms
Derived terms
See also
References