Ah
AI In plain words
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
ah¹
- /ɑː/
Rhymes with -ɑː
Where it comes from
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”).
interjection
- An expression of relief, relaxation, comfort, confusion, understanding, wonder, awe, etc. according to uttered inflection. Ah, I understand now.
- A syllable used to fill space, particularly in music. Boy don't try to front, uh, I Know just, just, what you are, ah, ah.
noun ahs
- An instance of the interjection ah. the crowd's oohs and ahs at the fireworks
verb ahs · ahing · ahed
- To give a cry of "ah". Mother and dad oohed and ahed over Cindy. She was only two months old but already was developing her personality.
ah²
pronoun we · mah · Ah
- Pronunciation spelling of I, most often indicating that the speaker is using a Scottish or American (particularly Southern) accent or African-American Vernacular English.I Did ah ever say anything derogatory against ma man Franco? Well, likesay. . . he's no a bad punter.
ah³
- /ɑ(ː)/ Malaysia, Singapore
- [ä(ː)~ɐ(ː)] Malaysia, Singapore
Where it comes from
From Hokkien 啊 (--a, a) and Teochew 啊 (a⁷), reinforced by Tamil -ஆ (-ā, etymology 3, particle sense 1) among Tamil speakers (Baskaran, 1988).
particle ar · arh
- Marks a yes–no tag question prompting the listener to clarify or confirm something. Pitch contour: low-mid /ɑ(ː)˨/, [ä˨]
- Reinforces a short, non-rhetorical wh-question. Pitch contour: rising /ɑ(ː)˨˦/
- Emphasizes the need for absolute confirmation, permission or acknowledgment. Pitch contour: rising /ɑ(ː)˨˦/
- A particle indicating the topic of a sentence from its comment. Pitch contour: rising /ɑ(ː)˨˦/
- A confirmative final particle used in the middle of a sentence to ascertain the continued attention of the listener. Pitch contour: rising /ɑ(ː)˨˦/
- Tagged at the end of non-interrogative sentence to convey a sense of informality or resignation. Pitch contour: mid-falling /ɑ(ː)˧˨/
- A vocative particle, used for direct address (over telephone calls, or if the addressee is far away). Pitch contour: low-mid /ɑ(ː)˨/
- Used as an intensifier in fixed expressions, sometimes exhortative in meaning. Pitch contour: mid-falling /ɑ(ː)˧˨/, low-mid /ɑ(ː)˨/
interjection ar · arh
- Used condescendingly, somewhat like “see?” or “I told you so”. Pitch contour: mid-falling /ɑ(ː)˧˨/, falling /ɑ(ː)˦˨/, sometimes nasalized
ah⁴
- /æ/
Where it comes from
Imitative of a person gagging.
interjection
- Yuck.
Ah⁵
noun Ahs
- Initialism of ampere-hour (unit of charge).ampere-hour
Ah⁶
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Chinese 阿. Compare Dutch -A-.
prefix
- A prefix of Chinese origin used with a shortened form of given names to express familiarity, roughly equivalent to a nickname. Ah Ming moved out of Chinatown last year.
Ah⁷
pronoun
- Alternative letter-case form of ah (“I”).ah
AH⁸
prefix
- prefix for attack helicopter, helicopter gunship designations
adverb
- Abbreviation of Anno Hegirae: in the year of the Hegira, used for dates using the Islamic calendar.Anno Hegirae
adjective
- Initialism of all human: applied to fan fiction stories in which supernatural characters are reimagined as normal human beings.all human
phrase
- Abbreviation of after hours The $600M offering announced AH on a Friday. We all know the bad rep $AAOI had in the past with the “shady management” and this does not help their case. Stock is down -10% AH on the news.
