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no

SayNOH/noʊ//nəʊ/

Noun pluralnoes, nos

17 meanings of no

Practice

  1. 1
    not anydeterminer
    Not any.

    No cars are allowed on the island, so everyone rides bikes.

    There's no milk left, so we'll have to eat toast instead.

    UsageUse no before a noun or its modifiers, without an article: no cars, no parked cars. Compare not a car, not any cars, does not work.

    Similarzero

    Oppositesome, any, many, several

  2. 2
    particle
    Used to give a negative answer or express disagreement, denial, refusal, or prohibition, including when confirming a negative question.

    No, you may not stay up past ten on a school night.

    No, I never touched your keys; check the pocket of your coat.

    Oppositeyes

  3. 3
    adverb
    Not; not at all, used before different, before comparatives with more and less, and idiomatically before other comparatives.

    The new version of the app is no better than the old one.

    Look no further than the end of your own street.

    UsageBefore a comparative or different: no better than, no less, no different from.

    Note

    Here a second word begins, a cousin of the first. It comes from Old English nā, built from ne "not" and ā "ever", so it once meant roughly "never", while the determiner grew from the same ne plus a word for "one".

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Adverbial no derives from Old English nā, which could mean never. en.wiktionary.org
    • Old English nā combines ne meaning not and ā meaning ever. en.wiktionary.org
    • The determiner has a distinct but related origin, combining ne with the word for one. en.wiktionary.org
  4. 4
    determiner
    Expressing that an action is forbidden or that there is no chance of it happening at all.

    No smoking. No parking. No under-18s.

    Once the rumor started there was no stopping it.

    UsageFollowed by -ing or a noun: No parking, there's no stopping her.

  5. 5
    determiner
    Not truly or fully what the following noun describes.

    He is no expert, whatever his business card says.

    That damp shack by the river is no home for a family of five.

    UsageHe is no expert is stronger than not an expert, and no fool works as praise.

    Note

    My mother's no fool means she is far from one, an understatement that works as praise. The same pattern can dismiss something as unworthy of its name: working nine to five every day is no life. Unlike the plain "not any" determiner, it judges rather than counts.

  6. 6
    nouncountable
    A negative answer or decision; a vote against a proposal.

    When he asked to borrow the car, the answer was a firm no.

    Every no from a publisher went into the drawer with the others.

    UsageSet phrases: a yes or a no, won't take no for an answer. The plural is noes or nos.

    Similarrefusal, rejection

    Oppositeyes

    Note

    As a noun the word names the answer itself, and it pairs naturally with yes: questions that call for a yes or a no, as Star Trek: The Next Generation put it in 1994.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The phrase occurs in Star Trek: The Next Generation, spoken by Q in “All Good Things...” en.wiktionary.org
    • The episode containing the phrase first aired in 1994. startrek.com
  7. 7
    USNUM-bur/ˈnʌmbɚ/UKNUM-buh/ˈnʌmbə/
    numbernoun
    Alternative spelling of No., the abbreviation for number, used before a figure.

    The report refers throughout to witness no 4.

    Bus no 19 stops outside the museum.

    Note

    Before a figure it stands for number, as in witness no 4 or bus no 19, and it comes from Latin numero, "in number".

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of no apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1, 4–5, 9, 15–17

This 'no' was inherited from Middle English no, a reduced form of none ("not any") used before consonants, from Old English nān ("none, not any"), going back to Proto-Germanic *nainaz, literally "not one" (*ne "not" + *ainaz "one"). It is related to Scots nae, Dutch neen, and Old Norse neinn.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

  • This determiner was inherited from Middle English no, a reduced form of none used before consonants. en.wiktionary.org
  • It derives from Old English nān, meaning 'none, not any'. en.wiktionary.org
  • Its ancestry extends to Proto-Germanic *nainaz, literally 'not one'. en.wiktionary.org
  • The Proto-Germanic components were *ne 'not' and *ainaz 'one'; the corresponding Old English forms were ne and ān. en.wiktionary.org
  • This no is related to Scots nae, Dutch neen, and Old Norse neinn. en.wiktionary.org
Meanings 2–3, 6, 8, 10–14

This 'no' was inherited from Middle English no, from Old English nā, nō ("no, not, never"), from Proto-Germanic *naiwô ("never"), ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European negative particle. It formed from Old English ne ("not") plus ā, ō ("ever, always"), and is related to Dutch nee, German nie ("never"), and Swedish nej.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

  • This 'no' was inherited through Middle English no from Old English nā, nō, meaning 'no, not, never'. en.wiktionary.org
  • The word descends from Proto-Germanic *naiwô, meaning 'never'. en.wiktionary.org
  • Its negative element ultimately derives from a Proto-Indo-European negative particle. en.wiktionary.org
  • Old English nā can be analysed as a contraction of ne 'not' and ā 'ever'. en.wiktionary.org
  • Old English ā, also written ō, means 'ever, always'. en.wiktionary.org
  • The word is related to Dutch nee, German nie 'never', and Swedish nej. en.wiktionary.org
Meaning 7

Scribes once wrote No. as a short way of giving the Latin (in) numerō, which means "in number" or "to the number of". This "no" is simply another way of writing that abbreviation.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts