آه

Arabic

Etymology

Onomatopoeic. From it the root ء و ه (ʔ-w-h).

Interjection

آهِ or آهٍ or آهًا • (ʔāhi or ʔāhin or ʔāhan)

1. ah, aw, ooh, ouch (expression of physical or emotional pain)

   آهِ مِنْ آلَامِ ٱلرَّأْسِ

   ʔāhi min ʔālāmi r-raʔsi

   Ah, my head hurts.

Derived terms

• تَأَوَّهَ (taʔawwaha)

Noun

آه • (ʔāh) m

1. pain (physical or emotional)

   لَمْ يَبْقَ لِي مِنَ الْحَيَاةِ إِلَّا الْآهُ.

   lam yabqa lī mina l-ḥayāti ʔillā al-ʔāhu.

   All that I have left of life is the pain.

Declension

Declension of noun آه (ʔāh)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	آه ʔāh	الْآه al-ʔāh	آه ʔāh
Nominative	آهٌ ʔāhun	الْآهُ al-ʔāhu	آهُ ʔāhu
Accusative	آهًا ʔāhan	الْآهَ al-ʔāha	آهَ ʔāha
Genitive	آهٍ ʔāhin	الْآهِ al-ʔāhi	آهِ ʔāhi

Egyptian Arabic

Etymology

Onomatopoeic. Compare Japanese ああ (ā, “yeah”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔaː/

Adverb

آه • (ʔāh)

1. yes, yeah

   Synonym: ايوه

See also

• نعم

Moroccan Arabic

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔaːh/

Particle

آه • (ʔāh)

1. yes

   Synonyms: أيه (ʔayyah, ʔayyih), إيه (ʔiyyah), واه (wāh), إيه (ʔīh), آيه (ʔāyyih), نعام (nʕām)

   Antonyms: لا (lā), لَأّ (laʔʔ), لَأَّ (laʔʔa), (humorous) لَأَّيْن (laʔʔayn), (humorous) لَأّتَيْن (laʔʔtayn)

Pashto

Noun

آه • (āh) m

1. sigh

Interjection

آه • (āh)

1. ah

Persian

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [ʔɑːh]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔɑːʱ]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔɑːʱ]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [ʔɑː]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [ʔɔː]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔɒːʱ]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔɔʱ]

Readings
Classical reading?	āh
Dari reading?	āh
Iranian reading?	âh
Tajik reading?	oh

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic: sound of sighing.

Noun

Dari	آه
Iranian Persian
Tajik	оҳ

آه • (âh)

1. sigh [since 11th century]

   آه طولانی ― âh-e tulâni ― long sigh

   • c. 1520, Selim I of the Ottoman Empire, edited by Benedek Péri, The Persian Dīvān of Yavuz Sulṭān Selīm, Budapest, Hungary: Research Centre for the Humanities, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, →ISBN, page 128:

     داشتی صد دلبری هر دم که آهی کردمی
     آه پنداری ترا ای شوخ کانها یاد نیست

     dāštī sad dilbarī har dam ki āhē kardamē
     āh pindārī tu-rā ay šōx k-ānhā yād nēst

     Every time I let out one sigh, you used to have a hundred comforts;
     You will think of the sigh, o shameless one who does not remember them!

     (Classical Persian transliteration)

Derived terms

• آه کشیدن (âh kešidan, “to sigh”)

 

Descendants

(These descendants may also be parallel onomatopoeic formations.)

• → Azerbaijani: ah
• → Hindustani:

  Hindi: आह (āh)

  Urdu: آه

• → Ottoman Turkish: آه
  • Turkish: ah
• → Pashto: آه (āh)

Interjection

آه • (âh)

1. ah, alas [since 10th century]

Etymology 2

Onomatopoeic. Compare Japanese ああ (ā, “yeah”) and colloquial Arabic آه (ʔāh, “yes”).

Interjection

Dari	آری
Iranian Persian	آره
Tajik	оре

آه • (āh) (Dari)

1. (colloquial) yes

   Synonyms: آری (ārē), بلی (balē)

2. (informal) yeah, mm-hmm, uh-huh

Further reading

• Hayyim, Sulayman (1934) “آه”, in New Persian–English dictionary, Teheran: Librairie-imprimerie Béroukhim

Soqotri

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ/

Etymology 1

Perhaps cognate to Arabic يَا (yā, “vocative particle”).

Particle

آه (ɛ)

1. O; hey; you; vocative particle

Etymology 2

Interjection

آه (ɛ)

1. interjection of assertion

References

• Naumkin, Vitaly, et al. (2018) “Glossary”, in Corpus of Soqotri Oral Literature, volume 2, Leiden: Brill, →DOI, →ISBN, page 374

South Levantine Arabic

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔaː/, [ʔɑː]

• Audio (al-Lidd):

  (file)

Particle

آه • (ʔā)

1. yes

   Synonyms: أيوه (ʔaywa), (formal) نعم (naʔam)

   Antonym: لأ (laʔ)

   See also: مبلا (mbala)