ugh

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): [ɯx], [ɯχ], [ɯʀ̊], [ɯɣ], [əx], [əχ], [əɣ], [ʌx], [ʌχ], [ʌɡ], [ʌk], [ʌʀ̊], [ʊx], [ʊχ], [ʊk], [ʊʀ̊], [ʊ], [ʌ᷈]

• Audio (US)

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Note: may be nasalized.

Interjection

ugh

1. Used to express repugnance, disgust, or annoyance.

   Ugh! The bread in the pantry has gone moldy.

   • 1855, Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, XXI:

     [...] It may have been a water-rat I speared, / But, ugh! it sounded like a baby's shriek.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 57:

     "Ugh, what a smell of Christian blood there is here," screamed the giant.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:yuck

2. Used to express inarticulate vocalisations, such as used by a caveman.
   • 1921, H.G. Wells, “The Grisly Folk”, in Selected Short Stories, published 1958, page 291:

     The brothers surveyed the wide prospect earnestly. "Ugh!" said one abruptly and pointed. "Ugh!" cried his brother. The eyes of the whole tribe swung round to the pointing finger. The group became one rigid stare.

Translations

to express disgust

• Arabic: يَع‎ (yaʕ)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 惡心／恶心 (zh) (ěxin), (strong, offensive) 呸 (zh) (pēi), 啐 (zh) (cuì), 哎呀 (zh) (āiyā), 哎 (zh) (āi), 唉 (zh) (ài)

• Czech: fuj (cs)
• Dutch: bah (nl)
• Esperanto: aĉ (eo)
• Finnish: hyh (fi)
• French: beurk (fr)
• German: igitt (de), pfui (de)
• Greek: αχ (el) (ach)

  Ancient: ψό (psó)

• Hebrew: אִיכְס‎ (he) (ikhs), פוּי‎ (he) (fui)
• Ido: uf (io)
• Italian: che schifo
• Japanese: うっ (u'), わっ (wa'), げ (ja) (ge), ゲ (ja) (ge), げっ (ge'), ゲッ (ge'))
• Malay: ee
• Norwegian: æsj (no), fy (no), uff (no)
• Persian: ایش‎ (fa)
• Polish: fu (pl)
• Portuguese: agh
• Romanian: câh
• Russian: фу (ru) (fu), тьфу (ru) (tʹfu), фе (ru) (fe), фи (ru) (fi) (aristocratic), бе (ru) (be), уф (ru) (uf) (for annoyance)
• Spanish: puf (es), guácala (es) (Mexico), fuchi (es) (Mexico), fúchila (Mexico), aj (es)
• Swedish: usch (sv)
• Tagalog: yak
• Turkish: ıı
• Welsh: ych (cy)

Anagrams

• Ghu, ghu, hug

Manx

Interjection

ugh!

1. oh!

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish og, from Proto-Celtic *āuyom, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /u/

Noun

ugh m (genitive singular uigh or uighe, plural uighean)

1. egg

Derived terms

• bonnach-uighe (“omelette”)
• plaosg-uighe (“eggshell”)
• ugh na Càisge (“Easter egg”)
• ughlann (“ovary”)
• uighean pronn (“scrambled eggs”)

 

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical	Eclipsis	with h-prothesis	with t-prothesis
ugh	n-ugh	h-ugh	t-ugh
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• Edward Dwelly (1911), “ugh”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “og”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language