oh

See also: OH, óh, öh, он, өн, 애, o̍h, and o͘h

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əʊ/
• IPA^(key): /oʊ/

• Audio (GA) (surprise):

  (file)

• Audio (GA) (realization):

  (file)

• Homophones: o, owe
• Rhymes: -əʊ

Etymology 1

From Middle English o, oo, oa (“oh”).

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?

   • (Can we date this quote by Sir Walter Raleigh and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     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: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:

     "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?"

Alternative forms

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

Related terms

• ah
• o
• O
• oh no
• ooh
• uh-oh
• oh my

Translations

expression of surprise

• Arabic: وَا (wā), يَا (ar) (yā), أُوه (ʔūh), أُوه (ʔūh)

  Egyptian Arabic: لاااا (laaa), ياااا (yaaa)

• Armenian: ահ (hy) (ah), օհ (hy) (ōh)
• 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)
• Finnish: oi (fi)
• French: oh (fr), ah (fr)
• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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: please add this translation if you can
• 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)
• Swedish: åh (sv), å (sv), oj (sv)
• Tagalog: ay (tl)
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Tuvan: о (o)
• Urdu: آہ (ur) (āh)
• Venetian: vèrceghe (vec), pòrco can
• Vietnamese: ồ (vi), ôi (vi), ối (vi)
• Welsh: o
• Yakut: оо (oo)
• Yiddish: אָ! (o!)

expression of understanding

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 哦 (zh) (ō, o); 噢 (zh) (ō)

• Manchu: ᠣ (o)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Mongolian: өө (mn) (öö)
• Portuguese: ah (pt)
• Russian: а (ru) (a)

Noun

oh (plural ohs)

1. An utterance of oh; a spoken expression of surprise, acknowledgement, etc.
   • 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

Etymology 3

From English o (“zero”), ultimately of (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Arabic origin.

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)

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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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -o

Interjection

oh

1. oh

Further reading

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

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German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oː/

Interjection

oh

1. oh

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Hungarian

Interjection

oh

1. oh!

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Min Nan

For pronunciation and definitions of oh – see 惡 (“evil; wicked; foul; fierce; hostile; ferocious; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 僫, which is in turn a variant form of 惡).

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Pohnpeian

Conjunction

oh

1. and

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Portuguese

Interjection

1. Alternative form of ó

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Spanish

Pronunciation

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

Interjection

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

Related terms

• ah
• eh