didn

Didn is a nonstandard English contraction that stands for did not. It is used mainly in informal speech and in dialect writing to convey a casual or regional voice. In standard written English the contraction is didn't, with the apostrophe. The form "didn" appears in transcripts, dialogue, and texts aiming to reproduce spoken language, often before a following verb as in I didn go to the party or She didn know about it. The spelling without the final t signals the elision of the t in rapid speech; some writers render it as did’n or simply as didn in casual contexts.

Usage and distribution: Didn is most common in English dialect writing and in fiction or dialogue that seeks to reflect specific speech patterns. It is not typically used in formal writing, editing guidelines, or standard journalism. Its acceptability depends on audience, genre, and the author’s stylistic goals.

Relationship to other forms: The underlying form is did not, with the standard contraction didn't. Dialectal and regional varieties also produce alternative negations such as didnae in Scots or other language varieties, but these are distinct from the general English didn form.

In summary, didn’t is the standard past negation, while didn’t is sometimes represented as didn in informal or dialect writing to capture pronunciation and character voice.