# must
## English
### Pronunciation

* (stressed) IPA: /ˈmʌst/
* (unstressed) IPA: /məs(t)/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Homophone: mussed
* Rhymes: -ʌst

### 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)
* (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.
* (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.
* (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 that he must come, but he never showed up. 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

$^†$ Archaic or obsolete.

##### Derived terms

* all good things must come to an end
* Caesar's wife must be above suspicion
* cooler heads must prevail
* cool heads must prevail
* every dog must have his day
* every dog must have its day
* I must go
* I must say
* must-buy
* must get in front
* must have killed a Chinaman
* must-learn
* must-link
* must-listening
* must-move
* must needs
* must-read
* must-try
* must-win
* needs must
* needs must when the devil drives
* there must be something in the water
* the show must go on
* the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must
* what goes up must come down
* you must be fun at parties
* you must be new here
* you must spoil before you spin

##### See also

* Appendix:English modal verbs
* Appendix:English tag questions

#### Noun

must (plural musts)
* 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.
** 1932, Helen Vinson, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang:"There are no musts in my life - I'm free, white, and twenty-one."

##### Descendants

* → French: must
* → Finnish: 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)
* The property of being stale or musty.
* Something that exhibits the property of being stale or musty.
* 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)
* (transitive) To make musty.
* (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)
* 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

* UMTS, MTUs, tums, stum, smut, UTMs, UTMS, Stum

## Dutch
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /mʏst/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

must m (plural musts)
* 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: /ˈmust/
* Hyphenation: must

### Adjective

must (genitive musta, partitive musta, comparative mustem, superlative kõige mustem or mustim)
* 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.
* Dark, without light, illumination (and poorly visible).
    Mustad sügisööd.Dark autumn nights.
** Without snow.
    Maa on must ja kelgutada ei saa.The ground is without snow and you can't go sledding.
* Having dark skin.
    Must poiss muudkui naeris.The black kid kept laughing.
* 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.
** Not requiring special skills, making something or someone dirty.
    Hauakaevaja must töö.The dirty job of a gravedigger.
* Grim, dreary, hopeless, without any (good) solution.
    Meeleolu on must.The mood around here is dark.
** 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)
* The color black.
    Halli värvi kombineerdes musta ja valgega suurendad enda usaldatavust.By combining gray with black and white, you increase your own reliability.
* 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).
* 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.

#### Antonyms

* valge

### Derived terms

* mustus
* mustuma
* mustendama
* mustenma
* mustama

### Related terms

* must auk
* mustvalge
* musträstas
* süsimust
* must sõstar

### See also

Colors in Estonian · värvid (layout · text) :
| valge | hall | must |
| punane; karmiinpunane | oranž; pruun | kollane; kreem |
| laimiroheline, kollakasroheline | roheline | mündiroheline; tumeroheline |
| tsüaansinine, rohekassinine; sinakasroheline, siniroheline | taevasinine, taevassinine | sinine |
| lilla, violetne; potisinine, indigosinine | fuksia, magentapunane; lilla, purpurne, purpurpunane | roosa |

### References

* ↑ http://eki.ee/dict/ety/index.cgi?Q=must&F=M&C06=en

## Finnish
### Etymology 1

Borrowed from English must.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɑst/, [ˈmɑ̝s̠t]
* Rhymes: -ɑst

#### Noun

must (colloquial)
* 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

### Etymology 2

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

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmust/, [ˈmus̠t]
* Rhymes: -ust
* Hyphenation: must

#### Pronoun

must
* (colloquial) elative singular of mä
    Must on tärkeetä, että.. / Minusta on tärkeää, että... (standard)I think it is important that...

## French
### Etymology

Borrowed from English must.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /mœst/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

must m (plural musts)
* (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.
* (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: [ˈmuʃt]
* Hyphenation: must
* Rhymes: -uʃt

### Noun

must (usually uncountable, plural mustok)
* 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
* 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: /must/

### Noun

must (uncountable)
* must (wine that is not fully fermented)
* (rare, with qualifier) fruit juice

#### Descendants

* English: must

#### References

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

## Old English
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mustum

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /must/

### Noun

must m
* must (newly or partially fermented wine)

#### Descendants

* Middle English: must
** English: must

### References

* Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “must”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

## Romanian
### Etymology

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

### Noun

must n (plural musturi)
* unfermented wine; grape or other fruit juice
* must (of grapes)

#### Derived terms

* mujdei
* mustar
* mustărie
* musti
* mustometru
* mustuială

#### Related terms

* mustos
* mustăreață

#### See also

* zeamă, suc

## Swedish
### Etymology

From Old Norse muster, moster, from Latin mustum.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /mɵst/

### Noun

must c (uncountable)
* (drink made from) fruit or berry juice (that has been prevented from fermenting)
* a kind of soft drink, more commonly known as julmust

#### 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
* black

#### Derived terms

* musteta
* Mustmägi
* mustsil'mäine
* mustverine

### Noun

must
* 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)
* must (new wine; sweet cider)

#### Declension

$^1$ status as a case is disputed $^2$ in later, non-classical Volapük only

## Võro
### Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *musta.

### Adjective

must (genitive musta, partitive musta)
* black (colour)