wasn't

See also: wasnt

English

Alternative forms

wadn't, warn't, wudn't, wunt (pronunciation spellings)
wa'n't, wan't (pronunciation spellings, colloquial, dated)
wasnt (informal, nonstandard)
wazn't, wuzzent (eye dialect)

Etymology

From was +‎ -n't.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɒz(ə)nt/, [ˈwɒzn̩(ʔ)], (colloquial, Yorkshire) IPA^(key): [ˈwɒn(ʔ)]
Audio (Southern England) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwʌz(ə)nt/, [ˈwʌzn̩(t)] (colloquial, dialectal) IPA^(key): [ˈwʌdn̩(t)]
Audio (GA) (file)
Hyphenation: was‧n't
Rhymes: (RP) -ɒzənt
Rhymes: (GA) -ʌzənt

Verb

wasn't

was not (negative auxiliary[1])
- 1899, Hughes Mearns, Antigonish:
  Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish, I wish he’d go away …

Derived terms

Rome wasn't built in a day

See also

References

Arnold M. Zwicky and Geoffrey K. Pullum, Cliticization vs. Inflection: English n’t, Language 59 (3), 1983, pp. 502-513

Anagrams

tawns, wanst, wants

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