oh

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See also: Appendix:Variations of "oh"

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Inherited from Middle English o.

Interjection

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oh

  1. Expression of surprise.
    Oh! I didn't see you there.
  2. Expression of wonder, amazement, or awe.
    Oh, wow! That's amazing.
  3. Expression of understanding, affirmation, recognition, or realization.
    Oh, so that's how it works.
  4. A word to precede an offhand or annoyed remark.
    Oh, leave me alone.
  5. A word to precede an added comment or afterthought.
    Oh, and don't forget your coat.
  6. 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?
  7. 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 […]
  8. 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
  9. Space filler or extra syllable, especially in (popular) music.
    • 1968, MacKinlay Kantor, Beauty Beast:
      I'm off with the raggle-taggle gypsy-oh.
  10. (interrogative) Expression of mild scepticism.
    "You should watch where you're going!" "Oh?"
  11. A word to mark a spoken phrase as imaginary.
    What if he says "Oh, I need to see your ID"?
Alternative forms
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Particularly in the context of Internet conversations, "oh" is sometimes written with additional Os or Hs - for example, ohhh. See also ooh.

Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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oh (plural ohs)

  1. 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

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oh (third-person singular simple present ohs, present participle ohing, simple past and past participle ohed)

  1. (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

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From Middle English o, oo, from Old English ō, from Latin ō.

Noun

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oh (plural ohs)

  2. 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
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  • o (more common)
Derived terms
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Etymology 3

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This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them!
Particularly: “digit 0 sense”

From o (“zero”).

Noun

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oh (plural ohs)

  2. the digit 0 (especially in representations of speech)
    My telephone number is four-double-three-two-oh-nine.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Anagrams

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Aragonese

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈo/
  • Rhymes: -o
  • Syllabification: oh

Interjection

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oh

  1. oh (expression of surprise, etc.)

Bahnar

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Etymology

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From Proto-Bahnaric *ʔɔh.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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oh

  1. younger sibling

Catalan

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Interjection

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oh

  1. oh (expression of surprise, etc.)

Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Interjection

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oh

  1. oh

Finnish

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Noun

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oh

  1. (housing) Abbreviation of olohuone (“living room”).

Further reading

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French

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Etymology

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Onomatopoeic; compare Latin ō.

Pronunciation

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Interjection

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oh

  1. oh

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Galician

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Pronunciation

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Interjection

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oh

  1. oh (expression of surprise, etc.)
    Synonym: ó

References

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German

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Pronunciation

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Interjection

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oh

  1. oh

Hokkien

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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).

Hungarian

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Pronunciation

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Interjection

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oh

  1. oh!

Ingrian

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Pronunciation

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Interjection

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oh

  1. Expression of surprise: oh!

Derived terms

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References

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  • Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 359

Juǀ'hoan

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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oh (upper case Oh)

  1. A letter of the Juǀ'hoan alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Latin

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Interjection

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ōh!

  1. oh! ah!
    Synonym: ō!

Pohnpeian

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Conjunction

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oh

  1. and

Portuguese

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Pronunciation

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  • Hyphenation: oh

Interjection

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oh

  1. Alternative form of ó

Romanian

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Interjection

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oh

  1. Alternative form of of

Spanish

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Pronunciation

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Interjection

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oh

  1. oh (expression of awe, surprise, pain or realization)
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Further reading

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Tagalog

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Pronunciation

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Particle

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oh (Baybayin spelling ᜂ)

  1. Alternative spelling of o

Interjection

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oh (Baybayin spelling ᜂ)

  1. Alternative spelling of o

Anagrams

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Zaghawa

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Noun

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oh

  1. milk

References

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Beria-English English-Beria Dictionary [provisional] ADESK, Iriba, Kobe Department, Chad

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