hasn't
- 1Contraction of 'has not,' used as an auxiliary to make a negative statement about something a person or thing has not done.
He hasn't called since the argument last week.
The committee hasn't reached a decision on the proposal.
Note
The auxiliary sits in front of a past participle: hasn't called, hasn't reached, hasn't got. That last one matters most. In she hasn't got toothache, got is the participle and hasn't is only the helper, yet the phrase denies possession. It is the ordinary modern way to say what the main-verb use once said directly.
- 2Contraction of 'has not' with 'has' used as a main verb, meaning that a person does not have or possess something.
The old squire hasn't an heir to inherit the estate.
I fear she hasn't the means to repay so large a debt.
Note
Here has is the verb of possession, not the helper of the perfect, so the contraction sits directly before its object: hasn't a chance, hasn't a notion. That pattern now sounds archaic, literary or dialectal, and everyday speech says doesn't have instead. George Goodchild could still write "Anthea hasn't a notion in her head" in 1935. Keep it apart from the auxiliary contraction in hasn't gone, which carries no such flavor.
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Origin
A contraction formed from "has" plus the negative ending "-n't."