wanna

See also: wanną and waŋná

English

Etymology

Contraction of want to. Attested as early as 1824.

Pronunciation

(preconsonantal)
- IPA^(key): /ˈwɑ.nə/, /ˈwʌ.nə/, /ˈwɔ.nə/
(prevocalic)
- IPA^(key): /-nuː/, /-nə/
  - In accents where prevocalic schwa would usually trigger linking-R (most non-rhotic accents), this does not happen.
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɒnə

Contraction

wanna

(colloquial) Represents a contracted pronunciation of want to.
I wanna go home!
- 2017 January 31, Emma Kennedy, Shoes for Anthony: A Novel‎, Macmillan, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 115:
  'Pair of shoes for you at last.' I picked one up. It was weathered, with a split heel and no laces. 'Too big for me,' I said, dropping it back to the floor. 'Wanna look at the Germans, like?' said Ade, standing. 'Proper, like? Come on. […]
(colloquial) Represents a contracted pronunciation of want a.
I wanna puppy!

Usage notes

The spoken contractions are widespread in everyday informal speech. The written contractions are inappropriate outside informal writing or transcription of casual speech.

Wanna is less commonly and less regularly used as a contraction of wants to and wants a.

Derived terms

Afar

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /wanˈna/,
Hyphenation: wan‧na

Noun

wanná f

heart

References

Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎, Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis), page 74