<P> An't with a long "a" sound began to be written as ain't, which first appears in writing in 1749 . By the time ain't appeared, an't was already being used for am not, are not, and is not . An't and ain't coexisted as written forms well into the nineteenth century--Charles Dickens used the terms interchangeably, as in Chapter 13, Book the Second of Little Dorrit (1857): "' I guessed it was you, Mr Pancks", said she,' for it's quite your regular night; ain't it?...An't it gratifying, Mr Pancks, though; really?' ". In the English lawyer William Hickey's memoirs (1808--1810), ain't appears as a contraction of aren't; "thank God we're all alive, ain't we ..." </P> <P> Han't or ha' n't, an early contraction for has not and have not, developed from the elision of the "s" of has not and the "v" of have not . Han't appeared in the work of English Restoration playwrights, as in The Country Wife (1675) by William Wycherley: Gentlemen and Ladies, han't you all heard the late sad report / of poor Mr. Horner . Much like an't, han't was sometimes pronounced with a long "a", yielding hain't . With H - dropping, the "h" of han't or hain't gradually disappeared in most dialects, and became ain't . </P> <P> Ain't as a contraction for has not / have not first appeared in dictionaries in the 1830s, and appeared in 1819 in Niles' Weekly Register: Strike! Why I ain't got nobody here to strike...Charles Dickens likewise used ain't to mean haven't in Chapter 28 of Martin Chuzzlewit (1844): "You ain't got nothing to cry for, bless you! He's righter than a trivet!" </P> <P> Like with an't, han't and ain't were found together late into the nineteenth century, as in Chapter 12 of Dickens' Our Mutual Friend: "' Well, have you finished?' asked the strange man .' No,' said Riderhood,' I ain't' ...' You sir! You han't said what you want of me ."' </P>

When did the word ain't become a word in the dictionary