oh
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Appendix:Variations of "oh"
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /əʊ/
Audio (Received Pronunciation): (file) - (Yorkshire) IPA(key): [ö̞]
- (US) IPA(key): /oʊ/
Audio (General American, surprise): (file) Audio (General American, realization): (file) Audio (General American, male voice): (file) Audio (US, female voice): (file) - Homophones: o, O, owe
- Rhymes: -əʊ
Etymology 1
Inherited from Middle English o.
Interjection
oh
- Expression of surprise.
- Oh! I didn't see you there.
- Expression of wonder, amazement, or awe.
- Oh, wow! That's amazing.
- Expression of understanding, affirmation, recognition, or realization.
- Oh, so that's how it works.
- A word to precede an offhand or annoyed remark.
- Oh, leave me alone.
- A word to precede an added comment or afterthought.
- Oh, and don't forget your coat.
- 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?
- Exclamation for drama or emphasis (often poetic).
- Oh, when will it end?
- 1703, Lawrence Smith, The Evidence of Things Not Seen, page 143:
- And oh how stingingly acute, and pungently grievous and tormentive, are the remembrancing Reflections of a separate uncloathed Soul in the other World, upon a review of its mad Choice, foolish Hopes, fruitless Desires […]
- 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5):
- 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 […]
- 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
- Space filler or extra syllable, especially in (popular) music.
- 1968, MacKinlay Kantor, Beauty Beast:
- I'm off with the raggle-taggle gypsy-oh.
- (interrogative) Expression of mild scepticism.
- "You should watch where you're going!" "Oh?"
- A word to mark a spoken phrase as imaginary.
- What if he says "Oh, I need to see your ID"?
Alternative forms
Particularly in the context of Internet conversations, "oh" is sometimes written with additional Os or Hs - for example, ohhh. See also ooh.
Derived terms
- oh ar
- oh boy
- oh dear
- oh girl
- oh God
- oh hell
- oh joy
- oh man
- oh me of little faith
- oh me oh my
- oh my
- oh my Allah
- oh my days
- oh my fuck
- oh my God
- oh my Goddess
- oh my gods
- oh my goodness
- oh my goodness gracious
- oh my gosh
- oh my heck
- oh my hell
- oh my lanta
- oh my life
- oh my Lord
- oh my stars
- oh my word
- oh my Zeus
- oh no
- oh noes
- oh oh
- oh really
- oh snap
- oh so
- oh well
- oh worm
- oh yeah
- oh ye of little faith
- uh oh
- why oh why
Related terms
Translations
expression of surprise
|
expression of wonder, amazement, or awe
expression of understanding
Noun
oh (plural ohs)
- An utterance of oh; a spoken expression of surprise, acknowledgement, etc.
- 2011, 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)
- (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)
- The name of the Latin-script letter O/o.
- 2006, Ben Bova, Titan, page 33:
- One genuine recycled local glass of aitch-two-oh
- 2011, Shallon Lester, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
- Exes and Ohs: A Downtown Girl's (Mostly Awkward) Tales of Love, Lust, Revenge, and a Little Facebook Stalking
Alternative forms
- o (more common)
Derived terms
Etymology 3
From o (“zero”).
Noun
oh (plural ohs)
- the digit 0 (especially in representations of speech)
- My telephone number is four-double-three-two-oh-nine.
Derived terms
Translations
Anagrams
Pronunciation
Interjection
oh
Etymology
From Proto-Bahnaric *ʔɔh.
Pronunciation
Noun
oh
Interjection
oh
Pronunciation
Interjection
oh
Noun
oh
- (housing) Abbreviation of olohuone (“living room”).
Further reading
- “oh”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03
Etymology
Onomatopoeic; compare Latin ō.
Pronunciation
Interjection
oh
Derived terms
Further reading
- “oh”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Pronunciation
Interjection
oh
References
- Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “oh”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
- Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “oh”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
- Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “oh”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN
Pronunciation
Interjection
oh
| For pronunciation and definitions of oh – see 惡 (“evil; wicked; foul; fierce; hostile; ferocious; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 惡). |
Pronunciation
Interjection
oh
- oh!
Pronunciation
Interjection
oh
Derived terms
References
- Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 359
Pronunciation
Letter
oh (upper case Oh)
- A letter of the Juǀ'hoan alphabet, written in the Latin script.
Interjection
ōh!
Conjunction
oh
Pronunciation
- Hyphenation: oh
Interjection
oh
- Alternative form of ó
Interjection
oh
- Alternative form of of
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈo/ [ˈo]
- Rhymes: -o
- Homophones: o, ó
Interjection
oh
- oh (expression of awe, surprise, pain or realization)
Related terms
Further reading
- “oh”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10
Pronunciation
- (Standard Tagalog) IPA(key): /ʔo/ [ʔo]
- Rhymes: -o
- Syllabification: oh
Particle
oh (Baybayin spelling ᜂ)
- Alternative spelling of o
Interjection
oh (Baybayin spelling ᜂ)
- Alternative spelling of o
Anagrams
Noun
oh
References
Beria-English English-Beria Dictionary [provisional] ADESK, Iriba, Kobe Department, Chad
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