Home

Waitno

Waitno is a contemporary informal interjection used in online and spoken English to retract a previous statement or to express a sudden reconsideration. It is typically realized as a portmanteau of “wait” and “no,” and may appear as “waitno,” “wait, no,” or “wait—no” in writing. The term functions as a brief corrective aside rather than a full sentence, signaling a change of mind, a correction, or a humorous self-contradiction within a larger utterance.

Etymology and development: The form arises from casual speech where speakers momentarily interrupt themselves to change

Usage: In practice, “waitno” is used to pause after an initial statement and then immediately negate or

Reception: As a relatively new and informal item, it lacks formal recognition in standard dictionaries but

See also: Interjection, correction meme, oops, facepalm.

course.
It
has
circulated
primarily
in
online
communities
and
memes,
often
accompanied
by
reaction
images
or
formatting
to
emphasize
the
reversal.
amend
it.
Examples:
“I
was
going
to
say
I
love
this
movie—waitno,
I
hated
the
ending.”
“Waitno,
I
can’t
attend
the
meeting
tomorrow.”
The
term
is
flexible
in
punctuation
and
can
function
as
a
standalone
exclamation
or
within
a
sentence.
appears
in
discussions
of
internet
slang
and
meme
culture.
Its
usage
tends
to
be
community-specific
and
varies
in
acceptance.