mayn't

may +‎ -n't

• IPA^(key): /meɪnt/, IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪ.ənt/
• Rhymes: -eɪnt, -eɪənt
• Hyphenation: may‧n't

mayn't (third-person singular simple present mayn't, no present participle, simple past mightn't, no past participle)

1. (colloquial, now rare, dated) may not (negative auxiliary[1])
   • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, chapter 40:

     I mayn't have much head, master, but I’ve head enough to remember those that use me ill.

   • 1861, George Eliot, chapter 17, in Silas Marner:

     "Now, father," said Nancy, "is there any call for you to go home to tea? Mayn't you just as well stay with us?--such a beautiful evening as it's likely to be."

   • 1865 November (indicated as 1866), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], chapter 9, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC:

     "Yes, we went to school in the sea, though you mayn't believe it——"

   • 1914, Saki, The Romancers:

     You mayn't hardly believe it, but at the present moment I am absolutely without a farthing.

   • 1930, H. P. Lovecraft, Madusa's Coil:

     I can't help about other people. But I surely would like to have a spot to stop till daylight. Still - if people don't relish this place, mayn't it be because it's getting so run-down?

• Mayn’t is not synonymous with can’t, except in questions. “Mayn’t you have a console?” and “Can’t you have a console?” both mean “Don’t you maybe have a console?”, but “You can’t have a console.” means you must not have a console and “You mayn’t have a console.” means you are not guaranteed to have a console but presumably still may, though it can imply that having so is hopeless.

• manty