uh

See also: uH, Uh, -uh, ùh, ūh, and ưh

English

Etymology

Onomatopoeia of the natural expression of thought. Compare with er.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ʌː/
• Rhymes: -ʌ

Interjection

uh

1. Expression of thought, confusion, or uncertainty.

   Uh, who was that?

2. Space filler or pause during conversation.

   Uh, let me see...

Usage notes

• May be extended by repeating the letter u or h to express increasingly severe confusion:

Uuuuh / Uhhhh, right, that makes sense, I guess.

Translations

expression of confusion or uncertainty

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 呃 (zh) (è, e)

• Danish: øh, øm, øhm
• French: euh (fr)
• German: äh (de)
• Italian: uh, boh (it)
• Japanese: あのう (ja) (anō), ええと (ēto), え (ja) (e), うーん (ūn)

• Korean: 저어 (ko) (jeo'eo)
• Malay: err
• Norwegian: eh, øh
• Portuguese: hã
• Russian: гм (ru) (gm), гм (ru) (hm), хм (ru) (xm) (the actual pronunciation may not be close to the spelling)
• Spanish: eh (es)
• Tagalog: ah, eh

space filler or pause during conversation

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 呃 (zh) (è, e), 啊 (zh) (ā), 那個 (zh), 那个 (zh) (nàge, nèige), 這個 (zh), 这个 (zh) (zhège, zhèige)

• Danish: øh, øm
• Dutch: euhm, euh (nl)
• French: euh (fr)
• German: äh (de)
• Greek: ε (el) (e)
• Hungarian: ő (hu)
• Italian: uh
• Japanese: あのう (ja) (anō), ええと (ēto), えー (ē), うーん (ūn)
• Korean: 어 (ko) (eo), 저어 (ko) (jeo'eo)

• Malay: err
• Navajo: éiyá
• Norwegian: eh, øh
• Portuguese: hã, é (pt)
• Russian: э-э-э (ru) (e-e-e), э-э (ru) (e-e), ну (ru) (nu)
• Serbo-Croatian: ovaj
• Spanish: eh (es), este (es)
• Swedish: eh, öh (sv)
• Tagalog: ah, eh
• Vietnamese: ờ (vi)

See also

• er
• erm
• um
• uh-oh
• oh

Noun

uh (plural uhs)

1. An occurrence of the interjection "uh".
   • 2007 August 24, William Grimes, “Uh, Lead My Rips: No More Bloopers”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     Although Shakespeare refers to “hums and ha’s,” sifting through etiquette manuals and public-speaking guides turns up scant evidence of a prohibition against ums, ers and uhs, which are profuse in the first recording of Thomas Edison’s voice, in 1888. Mr. Erard, rather ingeniously, traces the prohibition on um and other speech flaws to the advent of radio in the early 1920s.

Anagrams

• HU, Hu, hu

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Interjection

uh

1. er, uh

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Epigraphic Mayan

Noun

uh (transliteration needed)

1. (astronomy) moon

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /u/, /uː/
• Homophone: u

Interjection

uh

1. Used to express disappointment or disdain.

Further reading

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

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Sumerian

Romanization

uh

1. Romanization of 𒄴 (uḫ)