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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

uh en · INTJ · etymology 1

Pronunciation

Etymology

Onomatopoeia of the natural expression of thought. Compare with er.

Meanings

  1. Expression of thought, confusion, or uncertainty.
    • Uh, who was that?
  2. Expression of discomfort or reservation; a hesitation preceding awkward information or innuendo.
    • He's receiving some, uh, special attention from the manager.
  3. Space filler or pause during conversation.
    • As the years go by, speech reverts to childhood levels of disfluency, with more pauses, more errors, more repeated words, but even the peak years are not great: up to 8 percent of the average person’s word output consists of meaningless fillers and placeholders like um, uh and er. 2007 August 24, William Grimes, “Uh, Lead My Rips: No More Bloopers”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 04 Jan 2013:
    • And the very highly paid legal defense team for Alec Baldwin, uh basically Manhattan lawyers from uh Emmanuel Quinn, a top 50 worldwide law firm, highly paid. 2024 June 24, “Baldwin Judge on FIRE!”, in Law of Self Defense, page 1:
    • Uh, let me see...

Relateds

um · uh-huh · uhoh · unh-uh · oh · uh-oh · nuh-uh · yuh-uh · er · erm · uh-uh · huh-uh

Translations (68)

ko 저어 (space filler or pause during conversation) · da øh (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · es eh (space filler or pause during conversation) · es este (space filler or pause during conversation) · ru гм (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · es eh (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · it boh (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · nl euhm (space filler or pause during conversation) · da øm (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · el ε (space filler or pause during conversation) · no eh (space filler or pause during conversation) · de äh (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · fi ööh (space filler or pause during conversation) · da øhm (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · ru э-э (space filler or pause during conversation) · da øh (space filler or pause during conversation) · ms err (space filler or pause during conversation) · bg ъъ (space filler or pause during conversation) · ja えー (space filler or pause during conversation) · ko(space filler or pause during conversation) · ms err (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · ja(expression of confusion or uncertainty) · tl ah (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · pt(space filler or pause during conversation) · pt é (space filler or pause during conversation) · hu ő (space filler or pause during conversation) · tl eh (space filler or pause during conversation) · fr euh (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · cmn 那個 /那个 (space filler or pause during conversation) · sh ovaj (space filler or pause during conversation) · ko 저어 (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · sv öh (space filler or pause during conversation) · it uh (space filler or pause during conversation) · fr euh (space filler or pause during conversation) · ru ну (space filler or pause during conversation) · ru хм (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · cmn 這個 /这个 (space filler or pause during conversation) · ja ええと (space filler or pause during conversation) · ru гм (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · sv va (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · cmn(expression of confusion or uncertainty) · sv eh (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · ja うーん (space filler or pause during conversation) · ja ええと (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · ja うーん (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · pt(expression of confusion or uncertainty) · no øh (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · ja あのう (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · nl euh (space filler or pause during conversation) · no øh (space filler or pause during conversation) · vi(space filler or pause during conversation) · tl ah (space filler or pause during conversation) · cmn(space filler or pause during conversation) · sv eh (space filler or pause during conversation) · da øm (space filler or pause during conversation) · fi ööh (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · sv öh (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · fi tuota (space filler or pause during conversation) · no eh (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · nv éiyá (space filler or pause during conversation) · it uh (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · tl eh (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · cmn(space filler or pause during conversation) · de äh (space filler or pause during conversation) · ja あのう (space filler or pause during conversation) · ru э-э-э (space filler or pause during conversation) · ro ă (expression of confusion or uncertainty) · ca eh (expression of confusion or uncertainty)

Source: en.wiktionary, “uh” (intj), dump 20260902, contributors via the page history. Text licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

uh en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

Etymology

Onomatopoeia of the natural expression of thought. Compare with er.

Meanings

  1. An occurrence of the interjection "uh".
    • Although Shakespeare refers to “hums and ha’s,” sifting through etiquette manuals and public-speaking guides turns up scant evidence of a prohibition against ums, ers and uhs, which are profuse in the first recording of Thomas Edison’s voice, in 1888. Mr. Erard, rather ingeniously, traces the prohibition on um and other speech flaws to the advent of radio in the early 1920s. 2007 August 24, William Grimes, “Uh, Lead My Rips: No More Bloopers”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 04 Jan 2013:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
uhs Number=Plur lexicographic
Source: en.wiktionary, “uh” (noun), dump 20260902, contributors via the page history. Text licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

uh en · DET · etymology 2

Meanings

  1. (alt-of, colloquial, pronunciation-spelling) Pronunciation spelling of a
    alt of a
    • Gimme uh dollar.
Source: en.wiktionary, “uh” (article), dump 20260902, contributors via the page history. Text licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

uh en · NOUN · etymology 3

Pronunciation

  • /ˈʌ/

Meanings

  1. (alt-of, alternative, informal) Alternative form of a (“The fourth semiquaver (sixteenth note) of a beat”).
    alt of a