What is won't a contraction of?

[Stan_Shmenge]

Isn’t comes from is not. Doesn’t comes from does not. What the heck does won’t come from?

[Patty_O_Furniture]

Will not. Because it’s hard to say “willn’t”.

[ivan_astikov]

Would not, at a guess.

[from_a_to_z]

@Stan_Shmenge

What the heck does won’t come from?

Per http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-contraction.htm:

Some contractions have their roots in historical words or spellings no longer in use, and so seem a bit strange when considered as combined words. Won’t is a good example of this – the expected contraction being something more like willn’t as a contraction of will and not. In fact, historically, the construction was wynnot and later wonnot, which became contracted to wo’n’t and later the modern won’t.

[FatBaldGuy]

@ivan_astikov

Would not, at a guess.

The contraction for would not is wouldn’t.

[Dr.Drake]

L and W sounds are not as far away from each other as the alphabet would have you believe. Think of Polish ł (pronounced w), or the way French turns one cheval (shev-al) into many chevaux (shev-o). Neither is an explanation for won’t, already given above; just to show that the change from -illn- into -on- isn’t quite as bizarre, linguistically, as it seems at first glance.

[The_Stafford_Cripps]

It’s a contraction of the Middle English wol not - Chambers English Dictionary.

[janeslogin]

http://www.onelook.com/?w=won%27t&ls=a says it is a contraction of woll not. Woll is then defined in older dictionaries as will.

[Chessic_Sense]

@Dr.Drake

L and W sounds are not as far away from each other as the alphabet would have you believe.

Kids often say words like “yewwow” or “wowipop” for this reason.

[ivan_astikov]

@FatBaldGuy

The contraction for would not is wouldn’t.

I stand corrected and shamed.