English Explanatory Dictionary

ah

English dictionary entry

Meanings

intj
  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.
noun
  1. An instance of the interjection ah.
verb
  1. To give a cry of "ah".
pron
  1. Pronunciation spelling of I, most often indicating that the speaker is using a Scottish or American (particularly Southern) accent or African-American Vernacular English.
particle
  1. Marks a yes–no tag question prompting the listener to clarify or confirm something.
  2. Reinforces a short, non-rhetorical wh-question.
  3. Emphasizes the need for absolute confirmation, permission or acknowledgment.
  4. A particle indicating the topic of a sentence from its comment.
  5. A confirmative final particle used in the middle of a sentence to ascertain the continued attention of the listener.
  6. Tagged at the end of non-interrogative sentence to convey a sense of informality or resignation.
  7. A vocative particle, now mostly used by Chinese elders for direct address (over telephone calls, or if the addressee is far away).
  8. Used as an intensifier in fixed expressions, sometimes exhortative in meaning.
intj
  1. Used condescendingly, somewhat like “see?” or “I told you so”.
intj
  1. Yuck.
noun
  1. Initialism of ampere-hour (unit of charge).
prefix
  1. A prefix of Chinese origin used with a shortened form of given names to express familiarity, roughly equivalent to a nickname.
pron
  1. Alternative letter-case form of ah (“I”).
prefix
  1. prefix for attack helicopter, helicopter gunship designations
adv
  1. Abbreviation of Anno Hegirae: in the year of the Hegira, used for dates using the Islamic calendar.
adj
  1. Initialism of all human: applied to fan fiction stories in which supernatural characters are reimagined as normal human beings.

Pronunciation

/ɑː/ en-us-ah.ogg /ɑ(ː)/ [ä(ː)~ɐ(ː)] /æ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-ah.wav

Word forms

ah ahs ahing ahed we mah ar arh

Etymology

From Middle English ah, aa, a (“ah”), of imitative origin, or from Old English ēa, *eah (“oh, alas”), from Proto-West Germanic *a, *ah (“ah”). Earliest recorded use is circa 1175 in the Ormulum: 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 from Old French a (“ah!, oh!, hey!”) (represented by modern French ah). Compare also West Frisian a, ah (“ah”), Dutch a, ah (“ah”), Middle Low German a (“ah”), Old High German a, aa, ah (“ah, oh”) (whence modern German ah), Faroese áh (“oh, ah, alas”), Icelandic æ, ai (“ah, oh”), Latin ah (“ah”).

Synonyms

hah is it izzit hor right H

Related words

aah aha ha oh uh what lah1–14 lor2–3 lor1 ah6 leh1–2 mah leh3–6 one1–3 hor1 know nia only sia hor2 ah1–3 hah1–3 meh ba2 leh7–11 ba1 liao already Gupta A. F. (1992) in volume 18 number 1 →DOI is it ya

Derived words

ah ah ah ah-bup-bup ah-choo ah me ah well alack ooh-ah-ah ooh ah ah nah ah mean Ah Beng Ah Huay Ah Lian Ah Seng
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