English

or not

[ɔ˨ nɔt˨]
Final interrogative particle, forming a yes/no question from a declarative statement.

    Etymology graph

    • inherited
    • borrowed
    • derived
    • parts
    • meaning component
    • sound component
    • related
    React Flow

    Click a node to zoom in · double-click to open it

    Origin

    Calque of Hokkien 抑無 /抑无 (a̍h-bô / á-bô, literally “or not; or no; or none”). See also Hokkien 是毋是 (sī-m̄-sī / sǐ-m̄-sǐ, “whether or not”), 是抑毋是 (sī á-m̄-sī / sǐ á-m̄-sǐ, “isn't?”, literally “is it? or is it not?”), Mandarin 是不是 (shìbùshì, “whether or not”), forming a question, and similar interrogative expressions with 不, 無 /无, 唔 and other dialectal synonyms.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • calqueHokkien抑無

    Sources