# What is "won't" a contraction of?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wont-a-contraction-of/64650>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 7, 2001, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wont-a-contraction-of/64650 "2001-05-07T14:26:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wont-a-contraction-of/64650/1 "2001-05-07T14:26:46Z")

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Seems to me the word, “won’t” essentially means “will not.” So, shouldn’t the word be “willn’t,” or maybe “win’t?”

Where does the ‘o’ in “won’t” come from?

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**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wont-a-contraction-of/64650/2 "2001-05-07T14:30:09Z")

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willn’t just doesn’t sound good

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**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wont-a-contraction-of/64650/3 "2001-05-07T14:33:19Z")

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From [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com):  
“won’t \Won’t\ A colloquial contraction of woll not. Will not.”

It looks like “woll” is an obsolete term for will.

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**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wont-a-contraction-of/64650/4 "2001-05-07T14:38:13Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by friedo \*  
> \*\*Seems to me the word, “won’t” essentially means “will not.” So, shouldn’t the word be “willn’t,” or maybe “win’t?”
> 
> Where does the ‘o’ in “won’t” come from? \*\*

Probably from German; “wöllen” is the German equivalent of “will” in English. (Actually, this isn’t quite true for modern German and modern English, but is probably the origin of “woll” as an older form of “will”.)

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**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wont-a-contraction-of/64650/5 "2001-05-07T15:07:03Z")

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I amn’t exactly sure.

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**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wont-a-contraction-of/64650/6 "2001-05-07T15:20:25Z")

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[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mwont.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mwont.html)

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wont-a-contraction-of/64650/7 "2001-05-07T16:16:04Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by black455 \*  
> \*\*[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mwont.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mwont.html) \*\*

I’ll be damned. Stupid SD search engine. ☹ :mad: