ah

ah

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of ah in English

English Online Dictionary. What means ah‎? What does ah mean?

English

Etymology 1

mid-1400s Old Frankish (replacing English la).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɑː/
  • Rhymes: -ɑː

Interjection

ah

  1. An expression of relief, relaxation, comfort, confusion, understanding, wonder, awe, etc. according to uttered inflection.
  2. A syllable used to fill space, particularly in music.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations

Noun

ah (plural ahs)

  1. An instance of the interjection ah.
    the crowd's oohs and ahs at the fireworks

Verb

ah (third-person singular simple present ahs, present participle ahing, simple past and past participle ahed)

  1. To give a cry of "ah".

Pronoun

ah (personal pronoun, plural we, possessive adjective mah)

  1. Pronunciation spelling of I, most often indicating that the speaker is using a Scottish or American (particularly Southern) accent.

Etymology 2

From Hokkien 啊 (--a), Teochew 啊 (a7), Mandarin 啊 (a).

Alternative forms

  • ar, har

Pronunciation

  • (Singapore, Malaysia)
    • IPA(key): (Senses 2‒5) /ɑː˨˦/, (Sense 2, non-interrogative) /ɑː/
    • IPA(key): (Sense 1) [ä˨]

Particle

ah (Manglish, Singlish)

  1. Marks a tag question prompting the listener to clarify something.
    You're dyslexic ah? ― So you're dyslexic?
  2. Used for emphasis; reinforces a short wh-question.
  3. Emphasizes the need for absolute confirmation or acknowledgment.
    Don't drink and drive ah...
  4. A filler word separating the topic of a sentence and its comment.
  5. A filler word used to ascertain the continued attention of the listener.

See also

  • is it, izzit
  • (Singlish particles): hor, know, lah, leh, liao, lor, mah, meh, one, sia, what

References

  • “ah”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
  • “ah”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  • Lim, L. (2004) Singapore English: A grammatical description‎[2], John Benjamins Publishing, →ISBN, page 121

Anagrams

  • HA, Ha, ha, ha'

Afar

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈah/, [ˈʔʌh]

Pronoun

áh

  1. this, these (masculine)

Declension

See also

References

  • E. M. Parker, R. J. Hayward (1985) “ah”, in An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN
  • Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎[3], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *aksa, from Proto-Indo-European *Heh₃s- (“ash”) (compare Greek οξιά (oxiá, “beech”), Armenian հածի (haci), English ash).

Noun

ah m (plural ahe, definite ahu, definite plural ahet)

  1. beech (Fagus sylvatica)

Hyponyms

  • ah i bardhë (“white hornbeam”) (Carpinus betulus)

Further reading

  • “ah”, in FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎[4] (in Albanian), 1980
  • “ah”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006

Chickasaw

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adverb

ah

  1. yes
    Synonym: hohmi

Danish

Etymology

Partly borrowed from German, English, French, from Latin ah (“ah”), from Proto-Indo-European *ā. Partly also onomatopoeic.

Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål ah, English ah, German ah, French ah and Latin ah.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɛː/, /ˈɛːɛ/, /ɑ̈ː/
  • Rhymes: -ɛː, -ɑ̈ː
  • Hyphenation: ah

Interjection

ah

  1. used to express pleasure, e.g. because something tastes good or feels nice
    Coordinate terms: mm, mums, namnam
    Synonym: uhm
    1. used to express pleasant surprise
      Synonym: minsandten
  2. used to express reservations, slight disagreement, doubt etc.
    Synonym: arh

References

  • “ah” in Den Danske Ordbog

Anagrams

  • Ah, ha, HA

Esperanto

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Interjection

ah

  1. ah, oh

Finnish

Etymology

Found in a wide variety of languages, including but not limited to Estonian ah, Ingrian ah, Karelian ah, Ludian ah, Veps ah, Votic ah, Hungarian ah, Swedish ah, German ah, English ah, Latin ah. Tracing an exact origin is effectively impossible. Probably ultimately involuntary or natural.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɑh/, [ˈɑ̝h]
  • Rhymes: -ɑh
  • Syllabification(key): ah

Interjection

ah

  1. oh, ah

Further reading

  • “ah”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎[5] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

Anagrams

  • ha

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French a! (“oh! ah! woe!”), of expressive origin.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /a/

Interjection

ah

  1. ah

Derived terms

  • ah bon

References

  • Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “ah”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

  • “ah”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Galician

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈaː]

Interjection

ah

  1. ah (expression of understanding, etc.)

References

  • “ah” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
  • “ah” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
  • “ah” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

German

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -aː

Interjection

ah

  1. expressing understanding
  2. expressing contentment

Further reading

  • “ah” in Duden online
  • “ah” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Hokkien

Hungarian

Etymology

Involuntary expression of emotions: surprise, impatience, desire, sadness, refusal.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈɒx]
  • Rhymes: -ɒx

Interjection

ah

  1. ah
    • 1599-1601, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 1 [6]

References

Further reading

  • ah in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
  • ah in Ittzés, Nóra (ed.). A magyar nyelv nagyszótára (‘A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published A–ez as of 2024)

Indonesian

Etymology

Unknown

  • from Arabic آهْ (ʔāh)
  • from Peranakan Indonesian ach (“oh”), from Dutch ach (“oh”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈah/
  • Rhymes: -ah

Interjection

ah

  1. oh, expresses compassion, surprise and dismay

Further reading

  • “ah” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Ingrian

Alternative forms

  • ak

Etymology

Ultimately a natural sound. Compare Finnish ah and Estonian ah.

Pronunciation

  • (Ala-Laukaa) IPA(key): /ˈɑh/, [ˈɑh]
  • (Soikkola) IPA(key): /ˈɑh/, [ˈɑh]
  • Rhymes: -ɑh
  • Hyphenation: ah

Interjection

ah

  1. Exclamation of wonder: oh!
    Ah kui siä oot käppiä! ― Oh how beautiful you are!

References

  • Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 3

Italian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈa/, which may be preceded and/or followed by [h] or [ʔ]. It also may trigger syntactic gemination.
  • Rhymes: -a
  • Hyphenation: ah

Interjection

ah

  1. (sarcastic) ah! (usually ironic or sarcastic)
    Synonym: ha

References

Anagrams

  • ha

Juǀ'hoan

Pronunciation

  • The murmured vowel IPA(key): /a̤/

Letter

ah (upper case Ah)

  1. A letter of the Juǀ'hoan alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Latin

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ā or perhaps *h₂eh₂.

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /aːh/, [äː(ɦ)]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /a/, [ä]

Interjection

āh

  1. ah

References

Further reading

  • “ah”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “ah”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Mokilese

Noun

ah

  1. (one's) thing

Usage notes

Like many terms in Mokilese, ah has no non-possessive form; the third person singular possessive form (one's/his/her/its thing) is therefore treated as the lemma.

Declension


Old English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɑx/

Conjunction

ah

  1. (Anglian) Alternative form of ac (“but”)

Palikur

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

ah n or f

  1. (neuter) wood
  2. (feminine) tree

References

  • Languages of the Amazon (2012, →ISBN

Pohnpeian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɐː/
  • Rhymes: -ɐː

Etymology 1

Noun

ah

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter A/a.

Etymology 2

Noun

ah

  1. shark mullet (Rhinomugil nasutus), at a growth stage of approximately twelve inches

Etymology 3

Conjunction

ah

  1. however, and, then
    I sukuhl, ah e doadoahk.
    I went to school, and he worked.
    Ma Soulik pahn iang, ah I sohte pahn iang.
    If Soulik goes, then I won't.

Etymology 4

Alternative forms

  • e
  • eh

Determiner

ah

  1. his, her, hers, its, third person singular possessive pronoun
    Liho iang ah pwoud.
    The woman joined her husband.

Etymology 5

Interjection

ah

  1. Oh!; commonly used as an expression of approval.
    Ah, ke inenen mai.
    Oh, you are really good.

Portuguese

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈa/
  • Homophone: há

Interjection

ah!

  1. ah! (expression of relief, realization, awe)
  2. ah! (expression of woe, grief)

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:ah.

Romanian

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Interjection

ah

  1. ah

Somali

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

ah

  1. (intransitive) To be
    Bariis oo macaan ah. ― Rice that is sweet.

Spanish

Etymology

Imitative, similar to French ah.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈa/ [ˈa]
  • Rhymes: -a
  • Homophones: a, ha

Interjection

ah

  1. ah (expression of relief, realization, awe)
  2. ah (expression of woe, grief)

Related terms

Further reading

  • “ah”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Anagrams

  • ha

Sumerian

Romanization

ah

  1. Romanization of 𒄴 (aḫ)

Swedish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Interjection

ah

  1. ah; an expression of relief

Anagrams

  • ha

Tulu-Bohuai

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ah/

Noun

ah

  1. coral lime (for chewing/eating with betelnut)

Further reading

  • Bohuai
  • Malcolm Ross, Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia, Pacific Linguistics, series C-98 (1988)

Vilamovian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Interjection

ah

  1. oh: expressing of surprise
  2. oh: expressing wonder, amazement, or awe
  3. oh: expressing understanding, recognition, or realization
  4. oh: preceding an offhand or annoyed remark
  5. oh: an invocation or address

Zou

Etymology

From earlier *ak (whence the possessive forms), from Proto-Kuki-Chin *ʔaar (“chicken”). Cognates include Khumi Chin ae and Mizo ár.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /àʔ/

Noun

ah

  1. fowl
  2. (specifically) chicken (Gallus gallus)

Derived terms

References

  • Lukram Himmat Singh (2013) A Descriptive Grammar of Zou, Canchipur: Manipur University, page 49

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Related Words

yeah

yamaha

yahoo

utah

tahoe

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