Etymology

couldn't've

Today it means: Could not have. Full definition →

English have ← Middle English haven ← Old English habban
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The story

  1. Englishcouldn't
  2. Proto-Indo-European*kap-
  3. Proto-Germanic*habjaną
  4. Proto-West Germanic*habbjan
  5. Old Englishhabban
  6. Middle Englishhaven
  7. Englishhave
  8. English todaycouldn't've

From couldn't + -'ve.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.