FromMiddle English ah ,aa ,a ( “ ah ” ) , of imitative origin, or fromOld English ēa ,*eah ( “ oh, alas ” ) , fromProto-West Germanic *a ,*ah ( “ ah ” ) . Earliest recorded use is circa 1175 in theOrmulum :A, Maȝȝstre! icc wat tatt tu full wiss Arrt Godess Sune ("Ah, Master! I know for sure that thou art God's Son"). Some propose that the Middle English is borrowed fromOld French a ( “ ah!, oh!, hey! ” ) (represented by modernFrench ah ).[ 1] [ 2]
Compare alsoWest Frisian a ,ah ( “ ah ” ) ,Dutch a ,ah ( “ ah ” ) ,Middle Low German a ( “ ah ” ) ,Old High German a ,aa ,ah ( “ ah, oh ” ) (whence modernGerman ah ),Faroese áh ( “ oh, ah, alas ” ) ,Icelandic æ ,ai ( “ ah, oh ” ) ,Latin ah ( “ ah ” ) .
ah
Anexpression ofrelief ,relaxation ,comfort ,confusion ,understanding ,wonder ,awe , etc. according touttered inflection. Ah , I understand now.
Ah ! It's good to be back home!
Ah , the flowers of spring.
Asyllable used to fill space, particularly in music. 2008 , Britney Spears, “Womanizer”:Boy don't try to front, uh, I Know just, just, what you are,ah, ah .
an expression
Arabic:آه (ar) ( ʔāh ) Egyptian Arabic:آه ( āh ) ,أها ( ʔahā ) Chinese:Mandarin:哦 (zh) ( ò ) Danish:ah Dutch:ah (nl) Esperanto:ha (eo) ,ah (eo) Estonian:aa (et) ,ah (et) ,ee (et) ,oi (et) ,oo Finnish:aa (fi) French:ah (fr) Greek:α (el) ( a ) Hungarian:ah (hu) Ido:ah (io) Irish:á Japanese:ああ (ja) ( ā ) ,あ (ja) ( a ) ,嗚呼 (ja) ( ああ, ā ) Korean:아 (ko) ( a ) Malay:ah (ms) Norwegian:Bokmål:ah (no) Persian:آها (fa) ( âhâ ) Polish:ach (pl) ,a (pl) Portuguese:ah (pt) Russian:а (ru) ( a ) ,ага́ (ru) ( agá ) ,о (ru) ( o ) Slovak:ach Swedish:ah (sv) Thai:อ้อ (th) ( ɔ̂ɔ ) Vietnamese:à (vi) Welsh:a (cy)
ah (plural ahs )
An instance of the interjectionah .the crowd's oohs andahs at the fireworks ah (third-person singular simple present ahs ,present participle ahing ,simple past and past participle ahed )
To give a cry of "ah".2005 , T. R. Rhoads,Sinner, Sailor: A Memoir , page221 :Mother and dad oohed andahed over Cindy. She was only two months old but already was developing her personality.
ah (personal pronoun ,plural we ,possessive adjective mah )
Pronunciation spelling ofI , most often indicating that the speaker is using aScottish orAmerican (particularly Southern)accent .FromHokkien 啊 ( --a ) ,Teochew 啊 ( a7 ) ,Mandarin 啊 ( a ) .
ah ( Manglish , Singlish )
Marks atag question prompting the listener toclarify or confirm something. Synonyms: ( Singapore ) is it ,izzit You’re dyslexicah ? ―So you’re dyslexic? 1989 ,Eleanor Wong ,Jackson on a Jaunt, or, Mistaken Identities , page 3, lines49–50 :So how are you Jackson? Very busy,ah ? Never come around to see me these days.
2007 , Elangovan,P , Singapore,→ISBN ,→OCLC , page80 :Cannot talk-ah ? God give you mouth for what? No courtesy-ah ?Kanneena ! 2020 April 12, Notdumb, “Liddat is safe distance ah?”, inSG Talk [1] , archived fromthe original on18 April 2020 :Only 2 ft apart considered safeah ?
Used foremphasis ; reinforces a shortwh-question . 2011 October 23, Rachel Chang, “LifeStyle”, inThe Sunday Times , page15 :See howlor . Who’s goingar ? Emphasizes the need for absoluteconfirmation oracknowledgment . Don't drink and driveah ... Afiller word separating thetopic of a sentence and its comment. The drilling upstairsah , non-stopleh . 2014 , Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan,Singapore Noir , Akashic Books,→ISBN , page89 :These fish,ah , anything also eatone . A filler word used to ascertain the continued attention of the listener. Avocative particle , now mostly used by Chinese elders for direct address (overtelephone calls , or if the addressee is far away). Hello? Joeyah ? ―Hello?Is this Joey? 1983 , Stella Kon,Emily of Emerald Hill ,→ISBN , Act 1, page 3:Susieah , Emily here ah. This afternoon I'm going to town, anything that you're needing?
( Singlish particles ) :hor ,know ,lah ,leh ,liao ,lor ,mah ,meh ,one ,sia ,what ( question tags in Singlish ) :is it ,ya Imitative of a persongagging .
ah
Yuck .“ah”, inThe American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language , 4th edition, Boston, Mass.:Houghton Mifflin ,2000 ,→ISBN . “ah ”, inDictionary.com Unabridged ,Dictionary.com, LLC , 1995–present. Lim, L. (2004 )Singapore English: A grammatical description [2] , John Benjamins Publishing,→ISBN , page121 (Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium .)
áh
this ,these (masculine)Declension ofáh absolutive áh predicative áha subjective áh genitive ahtí
Afar demonstrative pronouns masculine feminine proximal to the speaker(s) áh táh proximal to the spoken to amáh tamáh distal wóh tóh very distal wóttih
E. M. Parker, R. J. Hayward (1985 ) “ah”, inAn 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) FromProto-Albanian *aksa , fromProto-Indo-European *Heh₃s- ( “ ash ” ) (compareGreek οξιά ( oxiá ,“ beech ” ) ,Armenian հածի ( haci ) ,English ash ).
ah m (plural ahe , definite ahu , definite plural ahet )
beech (Fagus sylvatica )FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language ][4] ,1980 “ah ”, inFGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language ] (in Albanian),2006 Imitative , similar toFrench ah .
IPA (key ) : /ˈa/ Rhymes:-a Syllabification:ah ah
ah ( expression of relief, realization, awe ) ah ( expression of woe, grief ) Imitative , similar toFrench ah .
IPA (key ) : ( Central , Balearic , Valencia ) [ˈa]
ah
ah ( expression of relief, realization, awe ) ah ( expression of woe, grief ) (Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium .)
ah
yes Synonym: hohmi Partly borrowed fromGerman ,English ,French , fromLatin ah ( “ ah ” ) , fromProto-Indo-European *ā . Partly alsoonomatopoeic .
Cognate withNorwegian Bokmål ah ,English ah ,German ah ,French ah andLatin ah .
ah
used to expresspleasure , e.g. because something tastesgood or feelsnice Coordinate terms: mm ,mums ,namnam ah , sikken en dejlig pandekageah what a delicious pancakeSynonym: uhm used to expresspleasant surprise "ah, velkommen Albert," sagde Sickert til prinsen"ah , welcome Albert," said Sickert to the princeSynonym: minsandten used to expressreservations , slightdisagreement ,doubt etc.bliver man også nervøs?Ah ikke så meget do you get nervous too?Ah , not so much Synonym: arh Anonomatopoeia , first recorded in 1285.
ah
ah ( expressing understanding or surprise ) (Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium .)
ah
ah ,oh Found in a wide variety of languages, including but not limited toEstonian 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.
ah
oh ,ah Inherited fromOld French a! ( “ oh! ah! woe! ” ) , of expressive origin.
ah
ah (Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium .)
ah
ah ( expression ofunderstanding , etc. ) Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández , editor (2006 –2013 ), “ah ”, inDicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language ] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela:Instituto da Lingua Galega Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández ,Ernesto Xosé González Seoane ,María Álvarez de la Granja , editors (2003 –2018 ), “ah ”, inTesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela:Instituto da Lingua Galega Rosario Álvarez Blanco , editor (2014 –2024 ), “ah ”, inTesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela:Instituto da Lingua Galega ,→ISSN FromMiddle High German ā , fromOld High German a ,ah , fromProto-West Germanic *a ,*ah . Cognate withMiddle Low German a ,Middle English a ,aa ,ah (whenceEnglish ah ).
ah
expressingunderstanding expressingcontentment “ah ” inDuden online “ah ” inDigitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache For pronunciation and definitions of ah – see鴨 (“duck ”). (This term is thepe̍h-ōe-jī form of 鴨 ).
Involuntary expression of emotions: surprise, impatience, desire, sadness, refusal.[ 1]
ah
ah ah inBárczi, Géza andLászló 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 Nóra Ittzés, editor,A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language ] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó , 2006–2031(work in progress; publisheda–ez as of 2024) .Unknown
ah
oh ,expresses compassion, surprise and dismay Ultimately a natural sound. CompareFinnish ah andEstonian ah .
ah
Exclamation ofwonder :oh !Ah kui siä oot käppiä! ―Oh how beautiful you are!Ruben E. Nirvi (1971 )Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja , Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 3 (Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium .)
ah
( sarcastic ) ah ! (usually ironic or sarcastic)Synonym: ha ah (upper case Ah )
Aletter of the Juǀ'hoanalphabet , written in theLatin script . Inherited fromProto-Indo-European *ā or perhaps*h₂eh₂ .[ 1]
āh
ah ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2011 )Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction , 2nd edition, revised and corrected byMichiel de Vaan , Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, page250 “ah ”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879 )A Latin Dictionary , Oxford: Clarendon Press “ah ”, inCharlton T. Lewis (1891 )An Elementary Latin Dictionary , New York: Harper & Brothers ah
(one's)thing 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.
Possessive forms ofah (loose inalienable possession, -ah stem) singular possessor first person oai second person oamw third person ah dual possessors first person inclusive asa first person exclusive ama second person amwa third person ara plural possessors first person inclusive asai first person exclusive amai second person amwai third person arai remote plural possessors first person inclusive ahs first person exclusive imi second person imwi third person ahr construct form in
ah
( Anglian ) Alternative form ofac ( “ but ” ) āh
first / third-person singular present indicative ofāgan (Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium .)
ah n or f
( neuter ) wood ( feminine ) tree Languages of the Amazon (2012,→ISBN ah
The name of theLatin-script letterA /a . ah
shark mullet (Rhinomugil nasutus ), at a growth stage of approximately twelve inchesah
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. ah
his ,her ,hers ,its , third person singular possessive pronounLiho iangah pwoud. The woman joined her husband. ah
Oh !; commonly used as an expression ofapproval .Ah , ke inenen mai.Oh , you are really good.Onomatopoeic .
ah !
ah !( expression of relief, realization, awe ) ah !( expression of woe, grief ) For quotations using this term, seeCitations:ah .
Onomatopoeic .
ah
ah ah
( Cromarty ) who Am Baile (2009 )The Cromarty Fisherfolk Dialect [7] , Highland Council, page 8 (Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium .)
ah
( intransitive ) Tobe Bariis oo macaan ah . ―Rice that is sweet. Imitative , similar toFrench ah .
ah
ah ( expression of relief, realization, awe ) ah ( expression of woe, grief ) ah
Romanization of𒄴 ( aḫ ) (Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium .)
ah
ah (expression of understanding, relaxation, contentment, etc.)Ah , jag förstårAh , I understandAh , det är skönt att få glida ner i jacuzzin och knäcka en kall öl efter ett hårt arbetspass i skogenAh , it's nice [feels good] to slip ["get to slip" – redundant, but sounds natural] into the jacuzzi and crack open a cold beer after a session of hard work in the forestGreven såg ut över sina ägor och tänkte "Ah , underbart!" The count looked out over his lands ["ownings"] and thought, "Ah , wonderful!" (Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium .)
ah
coral lime (forchewing /eating withbetelnut )Bohuai Malcolm Ross,Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia ,Pacific Linguistics , series C-98 (1988) (Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium .)
ah
oh :expressing of surprise oh :expressing wonder, amazement, or awe oh :expressing understanding, recognition, or realization oh :preceding an offhand or annoyed remark oh :an invocation or address From earlier*ak (whence the possessive forms), fromProto-Kuki-Chin *ʔaar ( “ chicken ” ) . Cognates includeKhumi Chin ae andMizo ár .
ah
fowl ( specifically ) chicken (Gallus gallus )Lukram Himmat Singh (2013 )A Descriptive Grammar of Zou , Canchipur: Manipur University, page49