(with rising pitch)Used to express doubt or confusion.Huh? Where did they go?
(with falling pitch)Used to express amusement or subtle surprise.Huh! I'm sure I locked it when I left.
(with rising pitch)Used to reinforce a question.Where were you last night? Huh?
(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!"
(informal, with rising pitch)Used to indicate that one did not hear what was said.Synonyms:come again, pardon, what; see also Thesaurus:say againHuh? Could you speak up?
(informal, with falling pitch)Used to create a tag question.It's getting kind of late, huh?
(onomatopoeia)Representing the sound of heavy breathing.
1980, Donald McCaig, The Butte Polka: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Rawson, Wade Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, page 251:He broke into a dogtrot and ran by us. I don't think he saw us. His voice was coming in little puffs, huh, huh, huh, but he probably didn't notice that either.
2019 May 15, Robert Purchese, quoting Marcin Iwiński, “Seeing Red: The story of CD Projekt”, in Eurogamer[1], archived from the original on 15 September 2023:It was up so many flights of stairs that people would arrive for meetings drenched in sweat: "They were like huh huh huh [panting] - where the hell are you?!"
(onomatopoeia)Representing a chuckling sound.
2010 December 7, Katherine Knorr, “Lambert Wilson: A Man of New Faith”, in The New York Times[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 December 2016:Mr. [Lambert] Wilson says this with a soft chuckle, sounding a bit like huh huh huh.
2017, Meg Howrey, The Wanderers, London[…]: Scribner, →ISBN, page 173:Helen starts laughing, properly now. Huh-huh-huh.
(martial arts)A kiai, shouted as a limb is swung in attack.
1993, Ashaki Boelter, The Nok, Bend, O.R.: Shakalot High Entertainment, published 2006, →ISBN, page 69:Shawn quickly turns around and punches the pale hand, yelling "Huh! Huh! Hi yah'! Huh! Get off me! Yeah!"
1995 October 5, Neal Pollack, quoting David Nelson, “King of the Creature Feature”, in Chicago Reader[3], Chicago, I.L.: Chicago Reader, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 September 2023:He gets out of the chair, whips off his jacket, and starts closing in on the camera, punching rapidly as he moves. A left hook, a right jab. "Hey, I'm a boxer and a marine! So don't mess with me, man! Semper fi! Marine Corps! They better not mess with me! My critics better not mess with me, man, 'cause I'm gonna beat you up. Huh, huh, huh, huh, huh. Hmm, hmmm, hmm, hmmmm, heeeyah, huh, huh. Hmmm, yeah!"
2014, Larry Swartz, Dramathemes: Classroom Literacy that Will Excite, Surprise, and Stimulate Learning, Markham, Ont.: Pembroke Publishers Limited, →ISBN, pages 130-131:Student A has both arms outstretched in a karate motion and shouts out "HUH". Student B receives the sound by putting both arms straight in the air and yelling "HUH". Students on either side of B give B a karate chop by miming a sideways karate chop — without any touching.
2023, Dwayne Reed, Simon B. Rhymin' Gets in the Game, New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, →ISBN, unnumbered page:HUH-HUH, HI-YAH!
Chinese: Hokkien: 無 / 无 (zh-min-nan)(bô), (when 會 was used as a main verb)𣍐 / 𫧃(bōe / bǒe / bē), (to ask if one has done the verb yet)未 (zh-min-nan)(bē / bēr / bōe / běr) Mandarin: 嗎 / 吗 (zh)(ma), 呢 (zh)(ne), 嘛 (zh)(ma)
Esperanto: ĉu? (eo), ĉu ne?
French: hein (fr)
Japanese: ね (ja)(ne), か (ja)(ka)
Korean: 아이가(aiga)(Gyeongsang dialectal)
Norwegian: eller hva
Polish: nie (pl)
Russian: а (ru)(a), да (ru)(da)
Scots: eh
Scottish Gaelic: dè
Slovene: a (sl), e (sl)
Swedish: eller hur (sv)
Tagalog: ha
Tibetan: ག(ga)(after final ག), ང(nga)(after final ང), པ(pa)(all other cases); all particles appended to the end of a sentence
Vietnamese: nhỉ (vi), nhể (vi), nhở (vi), à (vi)
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations. Translations to be checked
Cherokee: (please verify) hv
Vietnamese: (3)(please verify) a! (vi)
References
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“huh”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
Anagrams
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uhh
Central Franconian
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Alternative forms
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hiech, hieh(western Moselle Franconian)
Etymology
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From Old High Germanhōh, from Proto-West Germanic*hauh, from Proto-Germanic*hauhaz.
Pronunciation
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IPA(key): /huː/
Adjective
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huh (masculine huhe, femininehuh, comparative hüher or hühter or hieher, superlative et hühste or hüchste or hühtste or hiehtste)
The comparation forms with -ü- are Ripuarian, those with -ie- are Moselle Franconian.
Inflection
[edit] Inflection example for huh (Kölsch and central Ripuarian)
masculine
neuter
feminine
plural
positive
predicative / adverbial
huh
commoncase
strong
huhe
huh
weak
partitive
huhes
—
dativecase
initial
huhem
huher
huhe
non-initial
huhe
comparative
predicative / adverbial
hüher
commoncase
strong
hühere
hüher
weak
partitive
hüheres
—
dativecase
initial
hüherem
hüherer
hühere
non-initial
hühere
superlative
predicative / adverbial
et hüchste
commoncase
strong
hüchste
weak
dativecase
initial
hüchstem
hüchster
hüchste
non-initial
hüchste
In this declension type, strong (indefinite) and weak (definite) forms are either not at all distinguished or by tone only. The partitive form follows certain indefinite pronouns like jet(“something”). In the singular dative, there is a simpler distinction between “initial” and “non-initial” position, depending on whether the adjective is the first declined word of the noun phrase or not.
Dutch
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Etymology
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Possibly from Englishhuh.
Pronunciation
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IPA(key): /ɦʏ/
Audio:
(file)
Interjection
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huh
huh(an exclamation indicating puzzlement)Huh? Hoe kan dat?Huh? How is that possible?
See also
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hè
Finnish
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Etymology
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Probably natural or onomatopoeic.
Pronunciation
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IPA(key): /ˈhuh/, [ˈhuh]
Rhymes: -uh
Syllabification(key): huh
Hyphenation(key): huh
Interjection
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huh
phew(used to show relief, fatigue, or surprise)
Derived terms
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huhkia
See also
[edit]
huh huh
Further reading
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“huh”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish][4] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023