English

Adverb

not

1. Negates the meaning of the modified verb.

   I may be many things, but I am not a crook.

   Did you take out the trash? No, I did not.

   Not knowing any better, I went ahead.

Usage Note

In modern usage, the forms do not ... (or don't ...) is preferred to ... not for all but a short list of verbs (is/am/are/were, have/has/had, do/does/did, can/could, shall/should, will/would may/might, need):

• They do not sow. (modern) vs. They sow not. (KJB)

American usage tends to prefer don't have or haven't got to have not or haven't, except when have is used as an auxilliary (or in the idiom have-not):

• I don't have a clue. or I haven't got a clue (US)
• I haven't a clue. (outside US)
• I haven't been to Spain. (universal)

The verb need is only directly negated when used as an auxilliary, and even this usage is rare in the US.

• You don't need to trouble yourself (US)
• You needn't trouble yourself. (outside US)
• I don't need any eggs today. (universal)

Related Terms

• ain't
• aren't
• can't
• cannot
• doesn't
• don't
• didn't
• hadn't
• hasn't
• have-not
• haven't
• isn't
• mightn't
• needn't
• neither
• no
• nor
• notwithstanding
• shan't
• shouldn't
• wasn't
• won't
• wouldn't

See also

• if
• then
• else
• and
• or
• true
• false

Translations

• Arabic: لا (la)
• Dutch: niet
• Danish: ikke
• Esperanto: ne
• Finnish: ei
• French: ne ... pas
• German: nicht
• Hebrew: לא
• Indonesian: bukan, tidak, tak
• Interlingua: non
• Italian: non, no
• Japanese: ではない (dewanai), ない (nai)
• Korean: 아니다 (a-ni-da: used as adverb also as verb)
• Latin: non
• Persian: نَه (næ)
• Polish: nie
• Portuguese: não
• Quechua: ama
• Spanish: no
• Swedish: inte , ej , icke
• Tagalog: hindi
• Turkish: değil
• Yiddish: ניט (also נישט )

Conjunction

not

1. Indicates that the first term is the proper object, as opposed to the second.

   I wanted a plate of shrimp, not a bucket of chicken.

   ballots, not bullets.

Interjection

Not!

1. (slang) Used to indicate that the previous sentence was meant sarcastically.

   I really like hanging out with my little brother watching Barney ... Not!

Noun

NOT or not

1. Logical function NOT, true if input is false, or a gate implementing that function.

   You need a NOT there to conform with the negative logic of the memory chip.

NOT 0 = 1
NOT 1 = 0

Translation

• Finnish: EI
• Swedish: ICKE , NOT

See also

• AND
• OR
• NAND
• NOR
• XOR

Swedish

Noun

not (c) (pl noter , def sing noten , def pl noterna )

1. (music) note
2. A short message; note
3. (diplomacy) A formal message from a country to another country's embassy

NOT

1. (computer) The logical function NOT