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This list is part of the internal Wikipedia Manual of Style. For encyclopedic information see
English auxiliaries and contractions.
This is a list of contractions used in the Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Abbreviations these are to be avoided
anywhere other than in direct quotations in encyclopedic prose.
Some acronyms are formed by contraction these are covered at Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Abbreviations.
Some trademarks (e.g. Nabisco) and titles of published works (e.g. "Ain't That a Shame") consist of or contain
contractions; these are covered at Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Trademarks and Wikipedia:Manual of
Style/Titles, respectively.
Please note that this page can be edited by anyone. It's illustrative, not exhaustive, and some of its entries are
colloquial or obsolete.
Also, please note that many other proper contractions can be formed by combining various contractions listed
here.
List of common (and not archaic) English contractions
Contraction Meaning
'aight alright
ain't am not / is not / are not / has not / have not / did not (colloquial)[1]
amn't am not[2]
1. Ain't is used colloquially by some speakers as a substitute for a number of contractions, but is
considered incorrect by others.
2. Amn't is primarily used in Scottish and Irish English.
3. Aren't is usually a contraction of "are not"; however, it can be used as a contraction of "am not"
in questions (e.g. "Aren't I the greatest?"), though this is often considered colloquial.
4. Don't can be used to mean "does not"; however, this is considered colloquial to most speakers.
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