uh

U1H4
/ʌː//ə//ˈʌ/

interjection

Expression of thought, confusion, or uncertainty.

“Uh, who was that?”

CommonScrabble 5

Meanings

uh1

interjection
  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.

    Uh, let me see...

    2 more examples

    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
nounuh (plural uhs)

plural uhs

  1. An occurrence of the interjection "uh".
    1 more example

    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

uh2

article
  1. colloquialpronunciation spellingPronunciation spelling of a

    Gimme uh dollar.

uh3

noun
  1. alternativeinformalentertainmentAlternative form of a (“The fourth semiquaver (sixteenth note) of a beat”).

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

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

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian ъъ
  • ъъ (ăă)space filler or pause during conversation
Catalan eh
  • ehexpression of confusion or uncertainty
Chinese Mandarin 呃, 呃
  • 呃 (è, e)expression of confusion or uncertainty
  • 呃 (è, e)space filler or pause during conversation
  • 啊 (ā)space filler or pause during conversation
  • 那個 /那个 (nàge, nèige)space filler or pause during conversation
  • 這個 /这个 (zhège, zhèige)space filler or pause during conversation
Danish øh, øm
  • øhexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • ømexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • øhmexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • øhspace filler or pause during conversation
  • ømspace filler or pause during conversation
Dutch euhm, euh
  • euhmspace filler or pause during conversation
  • euhspace filler or pause during conversation
Finnish ööh, ööh
  • ööhexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • ööhspace filler or pause during conversation
  • tuotaspace filler or pause during conversation
French euh, euh
  • euhexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • euhspace filler or pause during conversation
German äh, äh
  • ähexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • ähspace filler or pause during conversation
Greek ε
  • ε (e)space filler or pause during conversation
Hungarian ő
  • őspace filler or pause during conversation
Italian uh, boh
  • uhexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • bohexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • uhspace filler or pause during conversation
Japanese あのう, ええと
  • あのう (anō)expression of confusion or uncertainty
  • ええと (ēto)expression of confusion or uncertainty
  • え (e)expression of confusion or uncertainty
  • うーん (ūn)expression of confusion or uncertainty
  • あのう (anō)space filler or pause during conversation
  • ええと (ēto)space filler or pause during conversation
  • えー (ē)space filler or pause during conversation
  • うーん (ūn)space filler or pause during conversation
Korean 저어, 어
  • 저어 (jeo'eo)expression of confusion or uncertainty
  • 어 (eo)space filler or pause during conversation
  • 저어 (jeo'eo)space filler or pause during conversation
Malay err, err
  • errexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • errspace filler or pause during conversation
Norwegian eh, øh
  • ehexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • øhexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • ehspace filler or pause during conversation
  • øhspace filler or pause during conversation
Portuguese hã, hã
  • hãexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • hãspace filler or pause during conversation
  • éspace filler or pause during conversation
Romanian ă
  • ăexpression of confusion or uncertainty
Russian гм, гм
  • гм (gm)expression of confusion or uncertainty
  • гм (hm)expression of confusion or uncertainty
  • хм (xm)expression of confusion or uncertainty
  • э-э-э (e-e-e)space filler or pause during conversation
  • э-э (e-e)space filler or pause during conversation
  • ну (nu)space filler or pause during conversation
Spanish eh, eh
  • ehexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • ehspace filler or pause during conversation
  • estespace filler or pause during conversation
Swedish eh, öh
  • ehexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • öhexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • vaexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • ehspace filler or pause during conversation
  • öhspace filler or pause during conversation
Tagalog ah, eh
  • ahexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • ehexpression of confusion or uncertainty
  • ahspace filler or pause during conversation
  • ehspace filler or pause during conversation
Vietnamese ờ
  • ờspace filler or pause during conversation

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with uh

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

uh. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/uh

MLA

“uh.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/uh. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “uh,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/uh.

Source: uh on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.