huh

See also: Huh and hūh

English

Alternative forms

hah
hunh

Etymology

Attested from circa 1600.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /hʌ/, [hʌ̃]
(General American) IPA^(key): /hə/, [hə̃]
- Audio (US, California) (file)
Rhymes: -ʌ
Audio (southern England, rising pitch) (file)
Audio (southern England, falling pitch) (file)
Audio (southern England, epic kung-fu style pitch) (file)

Interjection

huh

(with rising pitch) Used to express doubt or confusion.
Huh? Where did they go?
(with falling pitch) Used to express amusement or subtle surprise.
Huh! I'm sure I locked it when I left.
(with rising pitch) Used to reinforce a question.
Where were you last night? Huh?
(slang, with falling pitch) Used either to belittle the issuer of a statement/question, or sarcastically to indicate utter agreement, and that the statement being responded to is an extreme understatement. The intonation is changed to distinguish between the two meanings - implied dullness for belittlement, and feigned surprise for utter agreement.
(belittlement) A: "We should go to an amusement park, it would be fun." B: "Huh."
(agreement) A: "Murder is bad." B: "Huh!"
(informal, with rising pitch) Used to indicate that one did not hear what was said.
Huh? Could you speak up?
(informal, with falling pitch) Used to create a tag question.
It's getting kind of late, huh?

Synonyms

(to indicate that one didn't hear): come again, pardon, what; see also Thesaurus:say again

Derived terms

huh-uh
on the huh
uh-huh
uh huh
yeah-huh
yes-huh

Translations

to express amusement or subtle surprise

Chinese:
Mandarin: 嗯 (zh) (ēn), 哼 (zh) (hēng)
Finnish: häh (fi), höh (fi)
Japanese: え (ja) (e), えっ (ja) (e')
Luganda: eh eh
Norwegian: hva (no)
Portuguese: puxa (pt), eta (pt), eita (pt), caramba (pt)
Russian: а (ru) (a), что (ru) (što), да (ru) (da), да ну (da nu) (in questions), ха (ru) (xa) (in statements)
Swedish: vad (sv), vad nu
Vietnamese: ủa (vi)

expressing doubt or confusion

Cebuano: ha
Chinese:
Mandarin: 嘿 (zh) (hēi)
Dutch: hè (nl)
Finnish: häh (fi), höh (fi)
French: hein (fr)
German: hä (de), häh
Italian: eh (it)
Japanese: へえ (hē), え (ja) (e), よ (ja) (yo), ぞ (ja) (zo)
Korean: 어 (ko) (eo)
Portuguese: ué (pt), como (pt), hã
Russian: что (ru) (što), а (ru) (a), да (ru) (da) (with special intonation)
Swedish: vad (sv)
Vietnamese: ủa (vi)

to reinforce a question

Azerbaijani: ha (az), hah
Chinese:
Mandarin: 呢 (zh) (ne), 啊 (zh) (à, a)
Danish: æh
Dutch: hè (nl), nou (nl)
Finnish: täh, mitä (fi)
French: hein (fr)
German: hä (de)
Japanese: ね (ja) (ne), な (ja) (na)
Polish: co (pl)
Portuguese: hein (pt), hã, hein (pt)
Romanian: a (ro)
Russian: а (ru) (a), да (ru) (da)
Spanish: eh (es)
Slovene: a (sl), e (sl)
Ukrainian: га (uk) (ha)
Vietnamese: hả (vi)

"I know, huh" what huh

Chinese:
Mandarin: 啊 (zh) (à)
Finnish: joo (fi)
Portuguese: dã, não brinca
Russian: да (ru) (da), угу́ (ru) (ugú) (first meaning), ага́ (ru) (agá) (both meanings)

to indicate that one didn't hear

Dutch: hè (nl), wat (nl)
Finnish: häh (fi), täh
French: hein (fr)
German: hä (de), häh, wie (de), was (de)
Icelandic: ha (is)
Japanese: え (ja) (e), えっ (ja) (e')
Polish: hę (pl)
Portuguese: hã, hem (pt), como (pt)
Russian: что (ru) (što), а (ru) (a)
Swedish: vad (sv), hur sa (sv)
Ukrainian: га (uk) (ha)
Vietnamese: cái gì

tag question

Azerbaijani: ha (az), hah
Chinese:
Mandarin: 嗎／吗 (zh) (ma), 呢 (zh) (ne), 嘛 (zh) (ma)
Esperanto: ĉu? (eo), ĉu ne?
French: hein (fr)
Japanese: ね (ja) (ne), か (ja) (ka)
Korean: 아이가 (aiga) (Gyeongsang dialectal)
Norwegian: eller hva
Polish: nie (pl)
Russian: а (ru) (a), да (ru) (da)
Slovene: a (sl), e (sl)
Swedish: eller hur (sv)
Vietnamese: nhỉ (vi), nhể (vi), nhở (vi), à (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Cherokee: ^{(please verify)} hv (hv)
Vietnamese: (3) ^{(please verify)} a! (vi)

References

“huh”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams

uhh

Central Franconian

Alternative forms

hiech, hieh (western Moselle Franconian)

Etymology

From Old High German hōh, from Proto-West Germanic *hauh, from Proto-Germanic *hauhaz.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /huː/

Adjective

huh (masculine huhe, feminine huh, comparative hüher or hühter or hieher, superlative et hühste or hüchste or hühtste or hiehtste)

(Ripuarian, eastern Moselle Franconian) high; tall

Usage notes

The comparation forms with -ü- are Ripuarian, those with -ie- are Moselle Franconian.

Finnish

Etymology

Probably natural or onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈhuh/, [ˈhuh]
Rhymes: -uh
Syllabification^(key): huh

Interjection

huh

phew (used to show relief, fatigue, or surprise)

Yucatec Maya

Noun

huh

Obsolete spelling of huuh