must

English

Pronunciation

• (stressed) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌst/
• (unstressed) IPA^(key): /məs(t)/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌst
• Homophone: mussed

Etymology 1

From Middle English moste ("must", literally, "had to", the past tense of Middle English moten (“to have to”)), from Old English mōste (“had to”), 1st & 3rd person singular past tense of mōtan (“to be allowed, be able to, have the opportunity to, be compelled to, must, may”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtaną. Cognate with Dutch moest (“had to”), German musste (“had to”), Swedish måste (“must, have to, be obliged to”). More at mote.

Alternative forms

• mus' (dialectal)

Verb

must (third-person singular simple present must, no present participle, simple past must, no past participle)

1. (modal auxiliary, defective) To do as a requirement; indicates that the sentence subject is required as an imperative or directive to execute the sentence predicate, with failure to do so resulting in a failure or negative consequence.

   You must arrive in class on time. (the requirement is an imperative)

   This door handle must be rotated fully. (the requirement is a directive, necessary to operate the handle)

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Acts 9:6:

     Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

2. (modal auxiliary, defective) To do with certainty; indicates that the speaker is certain that the subject will have executed the predicate.

   If it has rained all day, it must be very wet outside.

   You picked one of two, and it wasn't the first: it must have been the second.

3. (modal auxiliary, defective) Used to indicate that something is very likely, probable, or certain to be true.

   The children must be asleep by now.

Usage notes

• (auxiliary, to do as a requirement): Compare with weaker auxiliary verb should, indicating mere intent for the predicate’s execution; and stronger auxiliary verb will, indicating that the negative consequence will be unusually severe.
• (auxiliary, to do with certainty): Compare with weaker auxiliary verb should, indicating a strong probability of the predicate’s execution.
• The past tense of “must” is also “must”. In main clauses, this use of the past tense is almost always literary (see King James Bible, Leiber, and Alcott quotations at Citations:must). In subordinate clauses, it is more common: He knew what he must do. Otherwise, the past sense is usually conveyed by had to. It is possible to use was bound to for the past also. For this reason, have to and be bound to are also used as alternatives to must in the present and future.
• The principal verb, if easily supplied (especially go), may be omitted. In modern usage this is mainly literary (see Housman and Tolkien quotations at Citations:must).
• Must is unusual in its negation: must not still expresses a definite certainty or requirement. Need and have to, on the other hand, are negated in the usual manner. Compare:

You must not read that book. (It is necessary that you not read that book.)

You need not read that book. / You do not have to read that book. (It is not necessary that you read that book.)

• The second-person singular (thou being the subject) no longer adds -est (as it did in Old English).

Conjugation

Derived terms

Translations

See also

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

Noun

must (plural musts)

1. Something that is mandatory or required.

   Synonyms: imperative, necessity

   Antonym: no-no

   Hyponyms: must-do, must-have, must-see

   If you're trekking all day, a map is a must.

Descendants

• → French: must

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English must, from Old English must and Old French must, most, both from Latin mustum.

Noun

must (countable and uncountable, plural musts)

1. The property of being stale or musty.
2. Something that exhibits the property of being stale or musty.
4. Fruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually from grapes.
   • c. 1874, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ovid in Exile:

     No sweet grape lies hidden here in the shade of its vine-leaves,
     No fermenting must fills and o'erflows the deep vats.

Derived terms

• must weight

Translations

Verb

must (third-person singular simple present musts, present participle musting, simple past and past participle musted)

1. (transitive) To make musty.
2. (intransitive) To become musty.

Further reading

• must on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 3

From Persian مست (mast, “drunk, inebriated”), from Middle Persian 𐭬𐭮𐭲 (mast).

Noun

must (countable and uncountable, plural musts)

1. Alternative form of musth
   • 1936, George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant, an essay in the magazine New Writing:

     It was not, of course, a wild elephant, but a tame one which had gone ‘must’.

Anagrams

• MTUs, UMTS, smut, stum, tums

Dutch

Etymology

From English must, from Old English mōste, from the past tense of Proto-West Germanic *mōtan, whence native moeten.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mʏst/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

must m (plural musts)

1. a must (necessity, prerequisite)

   Synonym: moetje

   Een rijbewijs is een must als je taxichauffeur wil worden.

   A driver's license is a must if you want to be a taxi driver.

Estonian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *musta. Cognate with Finnish musta, Veps must and Livonian mustā. Possibly from Proto-Germanic *mus-ta-, compare Norwegian Bokmål must (“steam, fume, mist”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmust/
• Hyphenation: must

Adjective

must (genitive musta, partitive musta, comparative mustem, superlative kõige mustem or mustim)

1. black (color)

   Lindude sulestik on must, aga tiibadel märkame valget laiku.

   The plumage of the birds is black, but you can notice a white spot on the wings.

2. Dark, without light, illumination (and poorly visible).

   Mustad sügisööd.

   Dark autumn nights.

   1. Without snow.

      Maa on must ja kelgutada ei saa.

      The ground is without snow and you can't go sledding.

3. Having dark skin.

   Must poiss muudkui naeris.

   The black kid kept laughing.

4. Dirty, unclean, full of garbage and/or grime.

   Synonym: räpane

   Mu riided said mustaks ja pidin neid pesema.

   My clothes became dirty and I had to wash them.

   1. Not requiring special skills, making something or someone dirty.

      Hauakaevaja must töö.

      The dirty job of a gravedigger.

5. Grim, dreary, hopeless, without any (good) solution.

   Meeleolu on must.

   The mood around here is dark.

   1. Illegal, unofficial, disgraceful.

      Kartsin, et mu mustad teod tulevad päevavalgele.

      I feared, that my dark acts will come to light.

Declension

Noun

must (genitive musta, partitive musta)

1. The color black.

   Halli värvi kombineerdes musta ja valgega suurendad enda usaldatavust.

   By combining gray with black and white, you increase your own reliability.

2. Something colored in black.

   Otsustasime, kumb mängib valgete, kumb mustadega.

   We decided, who plays with whites (white chesspieces), and who plays with blacks (black chesspieces).

3. A person having dark skin.

   Meie tulevikulootus ei ole enam lapsed, vaid hoopis mustad.

   Our hopes for the future aren't our children anymore, but blacks.

Declension

Antonyms

• valge

Derived terms

• mustus
• mustuma
• mustendama
• mustenma
• mustama

Related terms

• must auk
• mustvalge
• musträstas
• süsimust
• must sõstar

See also

References

Finnish

Etymology 1

A variant of musta < minusta (“of me”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmust/,
• Rhymes: -ust
• Syllabification^(key): must

Pronoun

must

1. (colloquial) elative singular of mä

   Must on tärkeetä, että.. / Minusta on tärkeää, että... (standard)

   I think it is important that...

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English must.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑst/,

Noun

must (colloquial)

1. must (something mandatory or required)

   Se on ihan must!

   It's a must!

Declension

• Not inflected.

Synonyms

• pakko; pakollinen juttu

Further reading

• “must”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-01

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English must.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mœst/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

must m (plural musts)

1. (informal) that which is compulsory; an obligation; duty; must

   Synonyms: essentiel, impératif

   • 2003, Élisabeth Badinter, Fausse route, Odile Jacob, →ISBN:

     Comme le fait remarquer Daphne Patai, Loïs Pineau, contrairement à Catherine MacKinnon, postule que les femmes sont tout à fait capables de donner un consentement explicite et verbal sans en rester au geste et au sous-entendu. Non seulement l’explicitation n’est pas un problème, mais c’est un must.

     As Daphne Patai points out, Loïs Pineau, unlike Catherine MacKinnon, postulates that women are entirely capable of giving explicit and verbal consent without relying on gesture and insinuation. Not only is explanation not a problem, but it's a must.

2. (often humorous) must-have (item that one must own)
   • 2014, Annie Ernaux, Regarde les lumières mon amour, Seuil, →ISBN, page 62:

     La fête des Mères s’affiche partout dans le centre commercial. À Auchan, un espace lui est réservé, rempli de robots, d’aspirateurs, de machines à café – le must apparemment – parfums, etc.

     Mother's Day is on display everywhere in the mall. At Auchan, a space is reserved for it, filled with appliances, vacuum cleaners, coffee makers — the apparent must-have — perfumes, etc.

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: must
• Rhymes: -uʃt

Noun

must (usually uncountable, plural mustok)

1. must (sweet fresh grape juice that has not fermented yet)

Declension

Further reading

• must in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Ludian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *musta.

Adjective

must

1. black

Middle English

Alternative forms

• most, moste, moust, muste

Etymology

From Old English must and Old French must, most, both from Latin mustum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /must/

Noun

must (uncountable)

1. must (wine that is not fully fermented)
2. (rare, with qualifier) fruit juice

Descendants

• English: must

References

• “must, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Romanian

Etymology

Inherited from Latin mustum, from Proto-Indo-European *mus-, *mews- (“damp”).

Noun

must n (plural musturi)

1. unfermented wine; grape or other fruit juice
2. must (of grapes)

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

• mustos
• mustăreață

See also

• zeamă, suc

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse muster, moster, from Latin mustum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɵst/

Noun

must c (uncountable)

2. (drink made from) fruit or berry juice (that has been prevented from fermenting)
3. a kind of soft drink, more commonly known as julmust

Declension

See also

• must on the Swedish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^sv

References

• must in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• must in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• must in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Anagrams

• stum, tums

Veps

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *musta.

Adjective

must

1. black

Inflection

Derived terms

• musteta
• Mustmägi
• mustsil'mäine
• mustverine

Noun

must

1. black

Inflection

References

• Zajceva, N. G., Mullonen, M. I. (2007) “чёрный”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary]‎, Petrozavodsk: Periodika

Volapük

Noun

must (nominative plural musts)

1. must (new wine; sweet cider)

Declension

Võro

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *musta.

Adjective

must (genitive musta, partitive musta)

1. black (colour)

Inflection