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Tamguatlay Posted 13 years ago
Vocabulary

Why is the short form for "will not" is not "win't", when the short version of "would not" is 'wouldn't"?

Where I live, many people think that "won't" is "wouldn't". The confusion arises from the "o" in "won't". My question is why is the short form for "will not" is not "win't", when the short version of "would not" is 'wouldn't"?

Thanks.
  

Top answer

If you look at the Wiktionary page for "won't" it explains that it comes from the archaic form of "will" which was "woll" and so in "won't" it was retained, but on its own woll became will. org/wiki/won%27t

— Robert Norris

  • If you look at the Wiktionary page for "won't" it explains that it comes from the archaic form of "will" which was "woll" and so in "won't" it was retained, but on its own woll became will.
  • org/wiki/won%27t
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3 Answers
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If you look at the Wiktionary page for "won't" it explains that it comes from the archaic form of "will" which was "woll" and so in "won't" it was retained, but on its own woll became will.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/won%27t
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Several other verbs have different vowel sounds in their negative contracted forms - do/don't, can/can't, shall/shan't and am/aren't.
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tamguatlayWhere I live, many people think that "won't" is "wouldn't".
You must keep telling them to stop thinking like that!

CJ
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