lah

See also: LAH, -lah, and --lah

Translingual

Symbol

lah

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Lahnda.

See also

• Wiktionary's coverage of Lahnda terms

English

WOTD – 9 August 2015

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɑ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑ

Etymology 1

An anglicised spelling of la.

Noun

lah (plural lahs)

1. (music) Alternative spelling of la

Etymology 2

From Malay lah, Cantonese 啦 (laa1) and Hokkien 啦 (--la). Doublet of la.

Pronunciation

• (Singapore, Malaysia)
  • Senses 1–2: IPA^(key): /lɑː˨/, /lɑː˧˨/, /lah˨/, [lä˨]
  • Senses 3–5: IPA^(key): /lɑː˦˨/
  • Senses 6–8: IPA^(key): /lɑː˨/, /lɑː˧˨/
  • Sense 9–10: IPA^(key): /lɑː˧˦/
  • Sense 11: IPA^(key): /lɑː˧/
  • Sense 12: IPA^(key): /lɑː˨/, (in fixed expressions) /lɑː˦/

Particle

lah (Manglish, Singlish)

1. Placed at the end of a sentence to accentuate the mood or attitude of the speaker.

   Don’t do it lah, it’s not worth it. ― Disapproval

   Hurry up, lah! ― Impatience

   • 1978, Leong Choon Cheong, Youth in the Army, Singapore: Federal Publications, →OCLC, page 75:

     Don’t know lah […] this is very hard to say.

   • 2007, Elangovan, P, Singapore, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 47:

     Even if you don't know, just pretend as if you know-lah Mike. You are embarrassing me you know.

   • 2020, Stephanie Street, Dragonflies, Epigram Books, →ISBN, Act 2, scene 2, page 110:

     Please lah, you want to save me, save me the headache.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:lah.
2. Placed at the end of a sentence to convey reassurance or solidarity.

   You won’t drown one lah. The water is very shallow.

   • 1999, Alfian Sa'at, Corridor, Singapore: SNP Editions, →OCLC, page 15:

     Don’t worry lah. We’ll meet the deadline.

3. Asserts that something is clear, obvious or straightforward.

   Get a whiteboard marker and write over it lah.

   They’re not wrong lah... But they’re only taking themselves into consideration.

   • 2009, Jean Tay, Boom, Epigram Books, →ISBN, Act I, scene v, page 30:

     Mud you can clean up. Cobwebs you can sweep away. Stains, use bleach lah!

   • 2009, Alfian Sa'at, “Nadirah”, in Collected Plays Three, Singapore, →ISBN, Scene ii, page 57:

     Nadirah: You never told me Sally was leaving. I didn't even have the chance to say goodbye.
     Sahirah: You visit her lah when you go to KL.

4. Used to express realisation, impatience or vexation.

   So in the end it wasn’t my fault lah!

   Do it yourself lah! Always need me to help is it?

   • 1983, Stella Kon, Emily of Emerald Hill, →ISBN, Act 1, page 14:

     When Richard was going to join Anglo-Chinese School I expected the father to bring him to see the Headmaster, after all he was from ACS himself, but he couldn't be bothered. (Emily imitates Kheong's brusque brush-off) 'You look after it, you arrange it lah!'

5. Used to tone down an imperative sentence, so that it sounds more like a request or suggestion.
   • 2013 June 18, Huang Lijie, quoting Samantha Lo, “Sticking to budding artist label”, in The Straits Times, Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings Limited, LIFE! Arts, page 2:

     I remember my friends telling me, 'People already say you're an artist, then be one lah.'

6. Used after an assertive statement to reinforce its authoritativeness, or to show that the speaker is confident with what they are saying.

   These shoes are too small lah.

   No need to count lah. I’m sure the number is right.

   • 2005, Kantian, soc.culture.singapore‎^[1] (Usenet):

     its an honest mistake lah.

   • 2008, Preeta Samarasan, Evening Is the Whole Day, Fourth Estate, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 116:

     “Keretapi Tanah Melayu means railway lah thanggachi [younger sister; term of address for a younger woman],” the man went on. “Means Malay Land Railway. Malay Land that means Malaysia lah [Sense 3], thanggachi, that also you don’t know ah? […]

7. Used to colloquialize certain short responses (e.g., no, ya, OK).
   • 2012 March 25, Maureen Koh, quoting Ha Wai Kay, “Her luck is in the duck”, in The Straits Times, Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings Limited, PEOPLE, pages 6–7:

     No lah, they must look at it this way... even though the founder (Colonel Harland Sanders) of KFC has died, his recipe lives on.

   • 2019 March 5, Ong Ye Kung, “Committee of Supply – Head K (Ministry of Education)”, in Parliamentary Debates: Official Report (Parliament of Singapore), volume 94:

     He said that in the past, […] a teacher might admonish a noisy class and say: “4N(T), keep quiet!” Immediately, all the N(T) students felt that they were singled out. Today, the teacher would say: “NCC, keep quiet!” and the Normal stream students feel: “Okay lah.”

8. Used to express dismissiveness.
9. (less common) Used in assertions that correct previous underlying assumptions.

   Oh wait it’s not today, lah. It’s on Sunday.

   • 2009, Jean Tay, Boom, Epigram Books, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii, page 21:

     boon: […] You want to go see snow or not, Ma?
     mother: See for what? I open freezer can see already what.
     boon: Not the same, lah… Imagine snowflakes drifting down, melting when they touch your skin. […]

10. (less common) Used to convey a slight sense of dissatisfaction or irritation.
    • 2024 July 16, Clement Yong, “Theatre review: National Day Charade mimes familiar criticisms of NDP but doles out a lesson or two”, in The Straits Times, Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings Limited:

      In a few months that have been both dispiriting and heartening with regard to public art […] is it any wonder that one of the most earnest things one can say to Singapore right now is: “Stop complaining, lah”?

11. (less common) A separator following each item in a list of examples.
    • 2010, Haresh Sharma, Those Who Can't, Teach, Epigram Books, Act I, scene ii:

      He teach them how to cook lah, learn computer lah... […]

12. (less common) Used sarcastically.

    No lah, no lah. ― No, definitely not. (sarcastic reply)

See also

• (Singlish particles): ah, hor, know, leh, liao, lor, mah, meh, one, sia, what

References

• Wong, J. (2004) “The particles of Singapore English: a semantic and cultural interpretation”, in Journal of Pragmatics, volume 36, number 4, →DOI, pages 739–793
• Ler Soon Lay, Vivien (2006) “A relevance-theoretic approach to discourse particles in Singapore English”, in Kerstin Fischer, editor, Approaches to Discourse Particles, →DOI, pages 149–166
• Lee, Junwen (2022) “An Analysis of Colloquial Singapore English lah and Its Interpretation across Speech Acts”, in Languages, volume 7, number 3, →DOI, page 203

Further reading

• Singlish "lah", with a possible deep connection to colloquial Arabic from Language Log
• Manglish "lah" and its affinity to Arabic "muhibbah" from Language Log

Anagrams

• Ahl, HAL, HLA, Hal, LHA

Malay

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lah/

Particle

lah

1. (informal) Final particle indicating an imperative, reassurance or emphasis.

   Saya ada di sini lah. ― I'm here.

   Kau ni bodoh betul lah! ― You are so stupid!

   Diam lah! ― Shut up!

   Pergi sana lah! ― Go there!

Descendants

• → English: lah (or directly from Cantonese 啦 (laa¹))

Middle English

Alternative forms

• laȝ, laȝgh, laghe, lawe, law, louȝ, lou, loȝ, logh, lough, low, lowe, loue

Etymology

From Old Norse lágr, from Proto-Germanic *lēgaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɑːx/

Adjective

lāh (plural and weak singular lāhe, comparative lāhere, superlative lāhest)

1. low

Related terms

• alowe

Descendants

• English: low
• Scots: laich

References

• “loue, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɑːx/

Verb

lāh

1. first/third-person singular preterite indicative of lēon

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *volxъ, from Proto-Germanic *walhaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /láx/
• Rhymes: -ax
• Hyphenation: lah

Noun

lȁh m anim

1. (obsolete) Italian

Declension

First masculine declension (hard o-stem, animate) , fixed accent
nom. sing.	lȁh
gen. sing.	láha
	singular	dual	plural
nominative imenovȃlnik	lȁh	láha	láhi
genitive rodȋlnik	láha	lāhov	lāhov
dative dajȃlnik	láhu, láhi	láhoma, láhama	láhom, láham
accusative tožȋlnik	láha	láha	láhe
locative mẹ̑stnik	láhu, láhi	lāhih, lāhah	lāhih, lāhah
instrumental orọ̑dnik	láhom	láhoma, láhama	lāhi
(vocative) (ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik)	lȁh	lȃha	lȃhi

First masculine declension (hard o-stem, animate) , fixed accent
nom. sing.	lȃh
gen. sing.	lȃha
	singular	dual	plural
nominative imenovȃlnik	lȃh	lȃha	lȃhi
genitive rodȋlnik	lȃha	lȃhov	lȃhov
dative dajȃlnik	lȃhu, lȃhi	lȃhoma, lȃhama	lȃhom, lȃham
accusative tožȋlnik	lȃha	lȃha	lȃhe
locative mẹ̑stnik	lȃhu, lȃhi	lȃhih, lȃhah	lȃhih, lȃhah
instrumental orọ̑dnik	lȃhom	lȃhoma, lȃhama	lȃhi
(vocative) (ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik)	lȃh	lȃha	lȃhi