ain't
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /eɪnt/
ipa: /ɪnt/
ipa: /ɛnt/
ipa: /ænt/
homophone: ant (/ænt/)
rhymes: -eɪnt
Forms: form: ain'
form: a'n't
form: arn't
form: ar'n't
Etymology: According to Etymology Online, the term was first attested in 1706 meaning am not, and it was used with that sense until the early 19th century, when it began to be used as a generic contraction for are not, is not, etc. in the Cockney dialect. It was then “popularized by representations of London cockney dialect in Dickens, etc., which led to the word being banished […] from correct English”.
The shift from /ænt/ to /eɪnt/ parallels a similar change some dialects made to can't. In other dialects, the pronunciation shifted to /ɑːnt/, and the spelling aren't, when used to mean “am not”, is due to the fact that both words are pronounced /ɑːnt/ in some non-rhotic dialects. Historically, ain't was present in many dialects of the English language, but not in the southeastern England dialect that became the standard, where it is only found in the construction ain't I.
As a contraction of have not and has not, ain't derives from the earlier form han't, which shifted from /hænt/ to /heɪnt/, and underwent h-dropping in most dialects.
Senses: examples: text: I ain’t ready yet; gimme a sec.
text: Ain’t I a woman?
text: Ain’t I a woman?
ref: 1851, Sojourner Truth, Ain’t I a Woman?:
glosses: Am not.
examples: text: That ain't right.
text: We figure in lively paint:
Our attitude’s queer and quaint —
You’re wrong if you think it ain’t, oh!
ref: 1885, Gilbert & Sullivan, The Mikado:
text: You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog.
ref: 1953, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Hound Dog:
text: It ain’t me you’re looking for.
ref: 1964, Bob Dylan, “It Ain't Me Babe”:
glosses: Are not, aren’t; is not, isn’t.
examples: text: These people ain’t seen a brown skin man since their grandparents bought one
ref: 1996, Rage Against the Machine, Down Rodeo:
text: Got a pile of sins to pay for and I ain’t got time to hide / I’d walk through a blazing fire, baby, if I knew you was on the other side.
ref: 2006, Bob Dylan, Nettie More:
glosses: Have not, haven’t; has not, hasn’t, when used as an auxiliary.
examples: text: Well, I ain’t wanna do that though.
text: “I ain’t like it; I ain’t like it a tall.^([sic])” Jesse leaned down to help Israel. Then he stood back up and shouted again, “Youes crazy! Youes both crazy!” “Crazy we’z may be, but we’z still living and Ben dare ain’t.”
ref: 2009 June 1, Sandra Kay, Haunted Secrets, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 248:
text: We ain’t able to go on out there telling folks in this world what we wanna be and what we ain’t wanna be. That ain’t our world honey, and learning is fine, ya done good, that’s for sure, but ain’t no time for dreaming.
ref: 2013 June 1, Muriel Mharie Macleod, What the River Washed Away, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:
text: “He ain’t love me.” She brings me back to the now. “I knew he ain’t the first time he put his hands on me.”
ref: 2013 June 11, Julia Blues, Parallel Pasts: A Novel, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 62:
text: I ask her if we can do it during fifth period cause I ain’t like econ. She say no, we gotta do it in fourth.
ref: 2015, James Park Canfield, School-based Practice with Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness, Sswaa Workshop, →ISBN, page 100:
glosses: Don’t, doesn’t.
examples: text: I ain’t go into the bathroom last night that late.
text: My son died, he ain’t live but I still try to think positive ’cause in life God take, God give.
ref: 2006 September 16, “Uncommon Valor: A Vietnam Story” (track 4), in Servants in Heaven, Kings in Hell, performed by Jedi Mind Tricks:
text: Prince Williams ain’t do it right, if you ask me. ’Cause I was him, I would have married Kate and Ashley.
ref: 2011 September 13, “Niggas in Paris” (track 3), in Watch the Throne, performed by Jay-Z,Kanye West:
text: “[...] ’Cause if I ain’t love you as much as I do, we wouldn’t be together right now. Don’t sit over there actin’ like you did somethin’ magical,” Jada vented.
ref: 2012 May 30, Awnye` Latrice, Love's Remix, Author House, →ISBN, page 121:
text: Could've got the Beamer. I ain't really want it.[…]Man, I should've got the Lex. Dropped the top on em, I ain't wanna flex. Would've hit your girl, I ain't want the sex.
ref: 2013 June 12, “Shoulda Woulda” (track 16), in Project Baby, performed by Kodak Black:
text: She ain’t want da state to split us up so she dropped er last yur’a high school to take cur’a us.
ref: 2014, RG Camp, Raging Currents:
text: [Verse 3: DaBaby]: I just put diamonds on all of my teeth, now they probably think I ain’t intelligent. In the homicide unit interrogation, asking questions, you know I ain’t tell ’em shit.
ref: 2019 July 5, “Under the Sun” (track 1), in Revenge of the Dreamers III, performed by J. Cole, Lute (rapper), and DaBaby:
glosses: Didn’t.
Synonyms: sense: am not
word: amn't
sense: am not
word: an't
sense: have not, has not
word: hain't
sense: have not, has not
word: han't
Derived terms: ain'tcha
if it ain't broke, don't fix it
they hate us cause they ain't us
y'ain't
you ain't seen nothing yet