Isn't

How to spell isn't

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce isn't

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does isn't mean?

1. verbThe contracted form of 'is not', used to deny or negate a statement about a single subject.

Isn't in a sentence

• The parcel isn't here yet, so we will wait another day.

• The manager isn't available until after lunch.

Where does isn't come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a contraction of the two everyday English words 'is' and 'not', both of which descend directly from Old English. 'Is' goes back to the Old English 'is', a form of the verb 'to be' that traces to the same ancient root that gives Latin 'est' and German 'ist', all meaning the third-person 'is'. 'Not' developed from Old English 'nawiht', literally 'no thing' or 'nothing at all', which wore down over centuries to the short word we use today. The blended written form with an apostrophe became common from the seventeenth century onward as informal contractions spread into print. The apostrophe stands in for the dropped letter 'o' of 'not', and remembering that single missing 'o' is the whole spelling trick: the mark goes between the 'n' and the 't', never before the 'n'.

How the word is built

• is (third-person singular of 'be')
• n't (contracted form of 'not', with the apostrophe marking the missing 'o')