aah

See also: ah, ááh, ääh, and åh

English

WOTD – 7 May 2006

Pronunciation

As an interjection the word is pronounced basically the same way as the interjection ah but the double a stresses prolongation. In the noun and the verb there is no extra prolongation.

Interjection

aah

1. Indication of amazement or surprise or enthusiasm.

   Aah! That's amazing!

   • 1985, Joan Morrison, chapter 5, in Share House Blues, Boolarong Publications, page 62:

     'Aaah!' they sigh, as the silvery Space Shuttle races heavenwards on top of a towering pillar of flame.

2. Indication of joyful pleasure.
   • 1834 — Edgar Allan Poe, The Assignation

     Yet I remember—aah! how should I forget?

3. Indication of sympathy.
4. Indication of mouth being opened wide.

   Dentists would always instruct, say aah!

5. To express understanding.

   Aah. Now I understand.

6. The sound of one screaming (with as many a's or h's needed for emphasis.)

   AAAHHH! A bug! A bug! Get it off me! Get it off me!

Translations

expressing amazement or surprise

• Armenian: ուխ (hy) (ux), ահ (hy) (ah)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 啊 (zh) (a), 哇 (zh) (wa), 呀 (zh) (ya)

• Danish: ah, aha
• Dutch: och (nl)
• Estonian: ah (et)
• Georgian: აჰ (ah)
• Latin: hui
• Lithuanian: ach (lt)

• Polish: ach (pl)
• Portuguese: nossa (pt)
• Russian: ах (ru) (ax)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о

  Roman: o (sh)

• Shan: ဢႃ (ʔaa1)
• Spanish: ¡ay! (es), ¡ah! (es)
• Swedish: åh (sv), oh (sv), ah (sv)

Noun

aah (plural aahs)

1. Expression of amazement, surprise, enthusiasm, or fear.
2. Expression of joy and/or pleasure.
3. The exclamation aah.

Translations

expression of amazement or surprise or enthusiasm

• Estonian: ahhetus (et)

• Polish: ach (pl)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} ఆహా (te) (āhā)

Verb

aah (third-person singular simple present aahs, present participle aahing, simple past and past participle aahed)

1. (intransitive, informal) To say or exclaim aah.
   1. To express amazement or surprise or enthusiasm, especially by the interjection aah.

      Everyone who came by oohed and aahed over her new appearance.

   2. To express joy or pleasure, especially by the interjection aah.

Usage notes

• The object of feelings usually is indicated by the prepositions over or at.
• Very often the word is used together with some other verb derived from an interjection. The most common combination is to ooh and aah.

Translations

to express amazement using "aah!"

• Estonian: ahhetama (et)

Anagrams

• AHA, a-ha, aha

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Manx

Alternative forms

• aae

Etymology

From Old Irish áth (compare Irish áth, Scottish Gaelic àth), from Proto-Celtic *yātus (“ford”).

Noun

aah f (genitive singular aah, plural aahghyn or aaghyn)

1. (geography) ford

References

• “1 áth” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.