Etymology

or not

Today it means: Final interrogative particle, forming a yes/no question from a declarative statement. Full definition →

Hokkien 抑無 /抑无
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The story

  1. Hokkien · calque of抑無 /抑无
  2. English todayor not

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.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.