oh

oh

See also: Appendix:Variations of "oh"

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /oʊ/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Audio (GA) (surprise)

  (file)

• Audio (GA) (realization)

  (file)

• Homophones: o, O, owe
• Rhymes: -əʊ

Etymology 1

From Middle English o.

Interjection

oh

1. Expression of surprise.

   Oh! I didn't see you there.

2. Expression of wonder, amazement, or awe.

   Oh, wow! That's amazing.

3. Expression of understanding, affirmation, recognition, or realization.

   Oh, so that's how it works.

4. A word to precede an offhand or annoyed remark.

   Oh, leave me alone.

5. A word to precede an added comment or afterthought.

   Oh, and don't forget your coat.

6. An invocation or address (similar to the vocative in languages with noun declension), often with a term of endearment.

   Oh, gosh

   • 1998, Max Martin, ...Baby One More Time (song performed by Britney Spears)

     Oh baby, baby, how was I supposed to know / That something wasn't right here?

7. Exclamation for drama or emphasis (often poetic).

   Oh, when will it end?

   • 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], OCLC 37026674, (please specify |book=1 to 5):

     Oh, by what plots, by what forswearings, betrayings, oppressions, imprisonments, tortures, poisonings, and under what reasons of state and politic subtilty, have these forenamed kings […] pulled the vengeance of God upon themselves […]

8. Expression of pain. See ouch.

   Oh! That hurt.

   • 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], OCLC 731622352:

     "Oh! . . . oh! . . . I can't bear it . . . It is too much . . . I die . . . I am going . . ." were Polly's expressions of extasy

9. Space filler or extra syllable, especially in (popular) music.
   • 1968, MacKinlay Kantor, Beauty Beast:

     I'm off with the raggle-taggle gypsy-oh.

10. (interrogative) Expression of mild scepticism.

    "You should watch where you're going!" "Oh?"

11. A word to mark a spoken phrase as imaginary.

    What if he says "Oh, I need to see your ID"?

Alternative forms

Particularly in the context of Internet conversations, "oh" is sometimes written with additional Os or Hs - for example, ohhh. See also ooh.

Derived terms

• oh my
• oh no
• oh so

 

Related terms

• ah
• o
• O
• ooh
• uh-oh

 

Translations

expression of surprise

Arabic: وَا‎ (wā), يَا‎ (ar) (yā), أُوه‎ (ʾūh), أُوه‎ (ʾūh) Egyptian Arabic: لاااا‎ (laaa), ياااا‎ (yaaa) Armenian: ահ (hy) (ah), օհ (hy) (ōh) Chickasaw: aa, kii Chinese: Mandarin: 哎呀 (zh) (āiyā), 哎哟 (zh) (āiyō), (different tone expresses different level of surprise) 哦 (zh) (o, ò, ó), 呵 (zh) (hē), 嗯 (zh) (ēn) Czech: ach (cs) Dutch: o (nl) Esperanto: ho (eo), aĥ (eo), hu (eo) Finnish: oi (fi), oho (fi) French: oh (fr), ah (fr) Galician: oh, ó (gl) Georgian: ოჰ (oh), ახ (ax) German: ach (de), oh (de) Greek: ω (el) (o), α (el) (a) Hiligaynon: abáo Hindi: अरे (hi) (are), हे (hi) (he), ओ (hi) (o) Hungarian: aj (hu) Icelandic: ó (is) Japanese: あら (ja) (ara), おや (ja) (oya), まあ (maa), ああ (ja) (aa), へえ (hee), お (ja) (o), あ (ja) (a) Korean: 아 (ko) (a), 오 (ko) (o), 어 (ko) (eo) Latgalian: oi, ai, ek, a Latin: eheu, ō (la) Latvian: ak Malay: oh Manchu: ᠣ (o) Manx: ugh Maori: hā Norwegian: oi, å (no), ai (no) Persian: اه‎ (fa) (oh), آه‎ (fa), آه‎ (fa) Polish: och (pl), ach (pl) Portuguese: ó (pt) Romanian: o (ro), oh (ro), of (ro) Russian: о (ru) (o), ой (ru) (oj), ах (ru) (ax), ох (ru) (ox), ого́ (ru) (ohó), ого́ (ru) (ogó) Sanskrit: अहो (sa) (aho) (for joyful or painful surprise), हा (sa) (hā), ओ (sa) (o) (in common speech, informally) Serbo-Croatian: oj (sh) Spanish: oh (es), ai (es) Swahili: ee, lo, loo, o Swedish: åh (sv), å (sv), oj (sv) jaså (sv) Tagalog: ay (tl) Turkish: please add this translation if you can Tuvan: о (o) Urdu: آہ‎ (ur) (ʾāh) Venetian: vèrceghe (vec), pòrco can Vietnamese: ồ (vi), ôi (vi), ối (vi) Welsh: o Yakut: оо (oo) Yiddish: אָ!‎ (o!)

expression of wonder, amazement, or awe

Czech: ó (cs) Swedish: oj (sv), å (sv), åh (sv)

expression of understanding

Arabic: آه‎ (ar) (ʾāh) Chinese: Mandarin: 哦 (zh) (ō, o); 噢 (zh) (ō) Czech: aha (cs), ach (cs) Finnish: ai (fi), aa (fi) Galician: ah (gl) Manchu: ᠣ (o) Mongolian: өө (mn) (öö) Portuguese: ah (pt) Russian: а (ru) (a), ага (ru) (aga) Swedish: jaha (sv)

vocative

French: ô (fr) Galician: ou (gl), ho (gl)

Noun

oh (plural ohs)

1. An utterance of oh; a spoken expression of surprise, acknowledgement, etc.
   • 2011, Seabert Parsons, The Lost Codex of Palenque, page 240

     There were ohs and ahs, and the people twisted about as they looked for her. Then they began to applaud.

Verb

oh (third-person singular simple present ohs, present participle ohing, simple past and past participle ohed)

1. (intransitive) To utter the interjection oh; to express surprise, etc.
   • 1852, Merry's museum and Parley's magazine (volumes 23-24, page 46)

     A quarter of an hour elapsed, and then, after several rings at the door-bell, a smothered laugh, and a good deal of ohing and ahing, the door was thrown open, and one by one, as they were announced, in came the expected characters.

Etymology 2

From Middle English o, oo, from Old English ō, from Latin ō.

Noun

oh (plural ohs)

1. the letter O, o (more commonly spelled o)
   • 2006, Ben Bova, Titan, p. 33

     One genuine recycled local glass of aitch-two-oh

   • 2011, Shallon Lester

     Exes and Ohs: A Downtown Girl's (Mostly Awkward) Tales of Love, Lust, Revenge, and a Little Facebook Stalking

Alternative forms

• o

Etymology 3

From o (“zero”).

Noun

oh (plural ohs)

1. the digit 0 (especially in representations of speech)

   My telephone number is four-double-three-two-oh-nine.

Translations

the digit zero in speech

Japanese: 〇 (ja) (maru) Korean: 공 (ko) (gong) Malay: kosong (ms) Swedish: noll (sv) Welsh: dim (cy)

Anagrams

• 'ho, HO, Ho, H₂O, h/o, ho

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Bahnar

Etymology

From Proto-Bahnaric *ʔɔh.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔɔh/

Noun

oh

1. younger sibling

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oː/

• Audio

  (file)

Interjection

oh

1. oh

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Finnish

Noun

oh

1. (housing) Abbreviation of olohuone (“living room”).

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -o

Interjection

oh

1. oh

Derived terms

• oh là là
• oh non

Further reading

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

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Galician

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɔː]

Interjection

oh

1. oh (expression of surprise, etc.)

   Synonym: ó

References

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

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German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oː/

• Audio

  (file)

Interjection

oh

1. oh

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Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈo], [ˈox]
• Rhymes: -o, -ox

Interjection

oh

1. oh!

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Ingrian

Pronunciation

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈoh/, [ˈo̞h]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈoh/, [ˈo̞h]
• Rhymes: -oh
• Hyphenation: oh

Interjection

oh

1. Expression of surprise: oh!

Derived terms

• ohahtaa

 

References

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 359

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Min Nan

For pronunciation and definitions of oh – see 僫 (“evil; wicked; foul; fierce; hostile; ferocious; etc.”). (This character, oh, is the Pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 僫.)

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Pohnpeian

Conjunction

oh

1. and

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Portuguese

Interjection

oh

1. Alternative form of ó

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Romanian

Interjection

oh

1. Alternative form of of

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈo/ [ˈo]
• Rhymes: -o
• Homophones: o, ó

Interjection

oh

1. oh (expression of awe, surprise, pain or realization)

Related terms

• ah
• eh

Further reading

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