Eh

//e// adj, adv, intj, name, noun, particle, symbol, verb, slang

adj, adv, intj, name, noun, particle, symbol, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Initialism of epididymal hypertension. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To use the interjection eh.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of mediocre quality; unremarkable. informal, not-comparable, predicative

    "My French fries were eh."

  2. 2
    Initialism of emotionally handicapped. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, not-comparable
Adverb
  1. 1
    Used to negate the following verb; (am/are/is/do/does) not. Caribbean, Singapore, Trinidad-and-Tobago, not-comparable

    "And she: "Ay man, watch you one foot ass. Wen I want a man, I want a good man. Me eh want man like you.""

Intj
  1. 1
    Used as a tag question, to emphasise what goes before or to request that the listener express an opinion about what has been said. Australia, Canada, Commonwealth, Hong-Kong, India, Ireland, New-Zealand, Singapore, South-Africa, UK, informal

    "These hot dogs are pretty good, eh?"

  2. 2
    Hey, oi; said to get someone's attention. Singapore, Singlish, impolite, usually
  3. 3
    an attention grabber Multicultural-London-English, Singapore

    "Eh, come here!"

  4. 4
    In isolation, a request for repetition or clarification of what has just been said.

    "—I've been studying Graphiurus murinus. —Eh? Studying what?"

  5. 5
    An interjection expressing disapproval. Singapore

    "Eh, please don’t say that..."

Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    A greeting between friends (typically male) or display of approval. Internet, Singapore, informal
  2. 7
    In isolation, expressing surprise or confusion

    "—You're going to be a dad! —Eh? You're joking!"

  3. 8
    Huh?; expresses confusion. Singapore
  4. 9
    An interjection used to ascertain the continued attention of someone addressed by the speaker. Canada

    "I went to the restaurant, eh, but my friends didn't show up."

  5. 10
    Expressing apathy or lack of enthusiasm; meh.

    "—Do you feel like going out tonight? —Eh, I don't know."

  6. 11
    Expressing apprehension following or preceding a reasoning or excuse; uh. Philippines

    "—Why is it like this? —Eh, It's like that eh."

Particle
  1. 1
    Alternative form of leh. Manglish, Singapore, Singlish, alt-of, alternative
Symbol
  1. 1
    redox potential (in volts).
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Initialism of Eastern Hemisphere (travel within or between IATA areas 2 and 3). abbreviation, alt-of, initialism

Synonyms

All synonyms
come againsorrywhatemerer

Example

More examples

""Eh? Where's Keiko?" "Said she's got a parent and child meeting so she'll be late.""

Etymology

Etymology 1

Natural exclamation; first recorded mid-16th century. Perhaps an unstressed variant of aye (“yes, yeah”). The Philippine sense is possibly influenced by Tagalog e and/or Spanish eh.

Etymology 2

From Hokkien 欸 (--eh) and Mandarin 欸 (ê̄ / ế / ê̌, interjection).

Etymology 3

Probably of multiple motivations, the sounds having been chosen for functional reasons.

Etymology 4

A reduced form of ain't.

Etymology 5

From Hokkien 咧 (--leh), with the l dropped.

Related phrases

redox potential

More for "eh"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Related Topic Clusters

Interview and Promotion Storytelling

Vocabulary for stronger STAR responses and promotion case narratives.

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.