huh

See also: hūh

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hʌ̃/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌ

Interjection

huh

Wikipedia

1. (with falling pitch) used to express amusement or subtle surprise.

   Huh! I'm sure I locked it when I left.

2. Used to express doubt or confusion.

   Huh? Where did they go?

3. (with rising pitch) Used to reinforce a question.

   Where were you last night? Huh?

4. (Discuss⁽⁺⁾ this sense) (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!"

5. (informal, with rising pitch) Used to indicate that one did not hear what was said.

   Huh? Could you speak up?

6. (informal, with falling pitch) Used to create a tag question.

   It's getting kind of late, huh?

Translations

to express amusement or subtle surprise

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嗯 (zh) (ēn), 哼 (zh) (hēng)

• Finnish: häh (fi), höh (fi)
• Luganda: eh eh
• Norwegian: hva (no)

• Portuguese: puxa, eta, eita, 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: häh

• Italian: eh
• Japanese: へえ (hē), え (ja) (e), よ (ja) (yo), ぞ (ja) (zo)
• 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

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 呢 (zh) (ne), 啊 (zh) (à, a)

• Dutch: hè (nl), nou (nl)
• Finnish: täh, mitä (fi)
• French: hein (fr)
• German: hä? (de)

• Japanese: ね (ja) (ne)
• Portuguese: hein (pt), hã, hein (pt)
• Romanian: a (ro)
• Russian: а (ru) (a), да (ru) (da)
• Spanish: eh (es)
• Vietnamese: hả (vi)

"I know, huh" what huh

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 啊 (zh) (à)

• Finnish: joo (fi)

• Portuguese: dã, não brinca
• Russian: да (ru) (da), угу (ru) (ugú, uhú) (first meaning), ага (ru) (agá, ahá) (both meanings)

to indicate that one didn't hear

• Dutch: hè (nl), wat (nl)
• Finnish: häh (fi), täh
• French: hein (fr)
• German: wie (de), was (de)

• Portuguese: hã, hem (pt), como (pt)
• Russian: что (ru) (što), эй (ru) (ej)
• Swedish: vad (sv), hur sa
• Vietnamese: cái gì

tag question

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嗎 (zh), 吗 (zh) (ma), 呢 (zh) (ne), 嘛 (zh) (ma)

• Japanese: ね (ja) (ne), か (ja) (ka)

• Norwegian: eller hva
• Russian: а (ru) (a), да (ru) (da)
• Swedish: eller hur
• Vietnamese: nhỉ (vi), nhể (vi), nhở (vi), à (vi)

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 Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Cherokee: hv (hv)
• Vietnamese: (3) a! (vi)