Won't
//wəʊnt// verb
verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Verb
- 1 will not (negative auxiliary); used to indicate a future non-occurring action.
"Sam won't be doing any work this afternoon."
Example
More examples"I won't ask you anything else today."
Etymology
From earlier wonnot, from Middle English wynnot, wilnot, wolnot, wilnat, a contraction of Middle English will not, wil not, wyll not, will noght, wil noht, willi noȝt, wyl nat, wol not, woll not, wole not, wolle not, wol nat, woll nat, etc., equivalent to a will + not and/or woll + not. For the pronunciation with /oʊ/, /əʊ/, see poultry.
More for "won't"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.