Doesnae

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. A Scots form of the negative auxiliary, meaning the same as does not in standard English
2. In Scottish dialect, a contracted way of saying that someone or something does not do a thing
3. The Scots negative contraction for does not, used in informal speech and writing in Scotland

Etymology: "Doesnae" is a Scots contraction, built the same way as English "doesn't": "does" joined to "-nae", the Scots form of "not". The "-nae" ending is the Scots counterpart of the English "-n't" and descends from the same Old English negative "ne" that gave English "not" its shape, which is why it sounds so close to "no" in both languages. Scots keeps this negative as a separate sound pattern across its verbs, so "doesnae" sits alongside "isnae", "wasnae" and "cannae" as part of one regular family. It is written as one word, with no apostrophe, and is used in everyday Scots speech and writing in Scotland.

Synonyms: doesn't

Antonyms: does