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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

no.

Not any.

2 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

det/nəʊ/Received-Pronunciation/no/Scotland/noː/Wales/niː/
  1. Not any.

    no one
    There is no water left.
  2. Hardly any.

    We'll be finished in no time at all.
    Fifty pounds for this is no money, really.
  3. Not any possibility or allowance of (something).

    No smoking. No parking.
    There's no stopping her once she gets going.
  4. Not (a); not properly, not really; not fully.

    My mother's no fool.
    Working nine to five every day is no life.
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English no, noo, na, a reduced form of none, noon, nan (“none, not any”) used before consonants (compare a to an), from Old English nān (“none, not any”), from Proto-West Germanic *nain, from Proto-Germanic *nainaz (“not any”, literally “not one”), equivalent to ne (“not”) + a. Piecewise doublet of none. Cognate with Scots nae (“no, not any, none”), Old Frisian nān, nēn ("no, not any, none"; > Saterland Frisian naan, neen (“no, not any, none”), North Frisian nian (“no, not any, none”)), Old Dutch nēn ("no, not any, none"; > Dutch neen (“no”)), Old Norse neinn (“no, not any, none”). Compare also Old Saxon nigēn ("not any"; > Low German nen), Old Dutch nehēn (Middle Dutch negheen/negeen, Dutch geen), West Frisian gjin, Old High German nihein (> German kein). More at no, one.

adv/nəʊ/Received-Pronunciation/no/Scotland/noː/Wales/niː/
  1. Not, not at all. Used before different, before comparatives with more and less, and idiomatically before other comparatives.

    not-comparable
    It is a less physical kind of torture, but no less gruesome.
    I can think of no more deserving cause.
  2. Not, not at all. Used idiomatically before certain other adjectives.

    informal · not-comparable
    This thing is no good.
    The teacher’s decision was no fair.
  3. Not.

    Scotland · informal · not-comparable
    I just want to find out whether she's coming or no.
    Can ye no help me?
  4. Not, does not, do not, etc.

    colloquial · humorous · not-comparable · usually
    Ug no like veggie.
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English no, na, from Old English nā, nō (“no, not, not ever, never”), from Proto-West Germanic *naiwō, from Proto-Germanic *naiwô (“never”), from *ne (“not”) + *aiwō (“ever”), equivalent to ne + aye. Cognate with Scots na (“no”), Saterland Frisian noa (“no”), West Frisian né (“no”), nea (“never”), Dutch nee (“no”), Low German nee (“no”), German nie (“never”), dialectal German nö (“no”), Danish nej (“no”), Swedish nej (“no”), Icelandic nei (“no”). Doublet of nay.

particle/nəʊ/Received-Pronunciation/no/Scotland/noː/Wales/næ/
  1. Used to show disagreement, negation, denial, refusal, or prohibition.

    No, you are mistaken.
    No, you may not watch television now.
  2. Used to express sadness or disappointment.

    "We lost." "No!"
  3. Used to express disbelief.

    I got the job! / No! Really? That's fantastic!
  4. Used to show agreement with a negative question.

    "Don’t you like milk?" "No." (i.e., "No, I don’t like milk.")
  5. Used together with an affirmative word or phrase to show agreement.

    colloquial
    No, totally.
    No, yeah, that's exactly right.
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English no, na, from Old English nā, nō (“no, not, not ever, never”), from Proto-West Germanic *naiwō, from Proto-Germanic *naiwô (“never”), from *ne (“not”) + *aiwō (“ever”), equivalent to ne + aye. Cognate with Scots na (“no”), Saterland Frisian noa (“no”), West Frisian né (“no”), nea (“never”), Dutch nee (“no”), Low German nee (“no”), German nie (“never”), dialectal German nö (“no”), Danish nej (“no”), Swedish nej (“no”), Icelandic nei (“no”). Doublet of nay.

prep/nəʊ/Received-Pronunciation/no/Scotland/noː/Wales/noʊ/Canada, General-American
  1. Without.

    Look Ma, no hands!
  2. Like.

Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English no, na, from Old English nā, nō (“no, not, not ever, never”), from Proto-West Germanic *naiwō, from Proto-Germanic *naiwô (“never”), from *ne (“not”) + *aiwō (“ever”), equivalent to ne + aye. Cognate with Scots na (“no”), Saterland Frisian noa (“no”), West Frisian né (“no”), nea (“never”), Dutch nee (“no”), Low German nee (“no”), German nie (“never”), dialectal German nö (“no”), Danish nej (“no”), Swedish nej (“no”), Icelandic nei (“no”). Doublet of nay.

noun/nəʊ/Received-Pronunciation/no/Scotland/noː/Wales/næ/
  1. A negating expression; an answer that shows disagreement, denial, refusal, or disapproval.

  2. A vote not in favor, or opposing a proposition.

    The workers voted on whether to strike, and there were thirty yeses and two nos.
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English no, na, from Old English nā, nō (“no, not, not ever, never”), from Proto-West Germanic *naiwō, from Proto-Germanic *naiwô (“never”), from *ne (“not”) + *aiwō (“ever”), equivalent to ne + aye. Cognate with Scots na (“no”), Saterland Frisian noa (“no”), West Frisian né (“no”), nea (“never”), Dutch nee (“no”), Low German nee (“no”), German nie (“never”), dialectal German nö (“no”), Danish nej (“no”), Swedish nej (“no”), Icelandic nei (“no”). Doublet of nay.

verb/nəʊ/Received-Pronunciation/no/Scotland/noː/Wales/noʊ/Canada, General-American
  1. To say “no”.

    colloquial · intransitive
  2. To answer with “no”; to decline, reject.

    colloquial · transitive
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English no, na, from Old English nā, nō (“no, not, not ever, never”), from Proto-West Germanic *naiwō, from Proto-Germanic *naiwô (“never”), from *ne (“not”) + *aiwō (“ever”), equivalent to ne + aye. Cognate with Scots na (“no”), Saterland Frisian noa (“no”), West Frisian né (“no”), nea (“never”), Dutch nee (“no”), Low German nee (“no”), German nie (“never”), dialectal German nö (“no”), Danish nej (“no”), Swedish nej (“no”), Icelandic nei (“no”). Doublet of nay.

adv/nəʊ/Received-Pronunciation/no/Scotland/noː/Wales/niː/
  1. Alternative form of No.

    alt-of · alternative · archaic · not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Variant of No., from the scribal abbreviation for Latin (in) numerō (“in number, to the number of”).

noun/nəʊ/Received-Pronunciation/no/Scotland/noː/Wales/næ/
  1. Alternative form of No.

    alt-of · alternative
Where this word comes from

Variant of No., from the scribal abbreviation for Latin (in) numerō (“in number, to the number of”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.