Word.ws English Dictionary

eh

More pronunciations (2)Fewer pronunciations

Canada/eɪ/Scotland/e/

eh interjection: used as a tag question, to emphasise what goes before or to request that the listener express an opinion about what has been said. Also the alternative form of leh.

Interjection (1)

  1. (Australia, Canada, Commonwealth, Hong-Kong, India, Ireland) Used as a tag question, to emphasise what goes before or to request that the listener express an opinion about what has been said.
    • These hot dogs are pretty good, eh?
    • Well, what dost thou think then of seeing the world? Do ye wish to go round Cape Horn to see any more of it, eh? Can’t ye see the world where you stand?1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick 16
  2. In isolation, a request for repetition or clarification of what has just been said.
    • —I've been studying Graphiurus murinus. —Eh? Studying what?
  3. In isolation, expressing surprise or confusion.
    • —You're going to be a dad! —Eh? You're joking!
    Synonyms:
    what, wha, huh, za, sorry, come again
  4. (Canada) An interjection used to ascertain the continued attention of someone addressed by the speaker.
    • I went to the restaurant, eh, but my friends didn't show up.
    Synonyms:
    y'know
  5. Expressing apathy or lack of enthusiasm; meh.
    • —Do you feel like going out tonight?
      —Eh, I don't know.
    • “Look, Mom; I made the real rocket, based on the macaroni prototype!” “…Eh.”2010, Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin, directors, Despicable Me
  6. (Philippines) Expressing apprehension following or preceding a reasoning or excuse; uh.
    • —Why is it like this?
      —Eh, It's like that eh.

Verb

eh (third-person singular simple present ehs, present participle ehing, simple past and past participle ehed)

  1. To use the interjection eh.

Adjective (1)

eh (not comparable)

  1. (informal, predicative) Of mediocre quality; unremarkable.
    • My French fries were eh.

Interjection (2)

IPA[ˈe˦˧]

(Singapore)

  1. (Singapore, Singlish, impolite, usually) Hey, oi; said to get someone's attention.
  2. (Singapore) An interjection expressing disapproval.
    • Eh, please don’t say that...
  3. (Singapore) Huh?; expresses confusion.

Interjection (3)

  1. (Multicultural-London-English, Singapore, regional African-American Vernacular) an attention grabber
    • Eh, come here!
    • Eh, what do you have?
    Synonyms:
    hey, oi, I say
  2. (Internet, Singapore, informal) A greeting between friends (typically male) or display of approval.

Adverb

eh (not comparable)

  1. (Caribbean, Singapore, Trinidad-and-Tobago) Used to negate the following verb; (am/are/is/do/does) not.
    • 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."1972, Harold Sonny Ladoo, No Pain Like This Body, Toronto, Ont.: Anansi, →ISBN, page 73

Proper noun capitalized: EH

EH

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Eastern Hemisphere (travel within or between IATA areas 2 and 3).

Adjective (2) capitalized: EH

EH (not comparable)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of emotionally handicapped.

Noun capitalized: EH

EH (uncountable)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of epididymal hypertension.

Symbol capitalized: eH

eH

  1. redox potential (in volts).

Also used as

eh is also the alternative form of leh.

eh meaning in Telugu, Kannada, Tagalog and Persian

eh in Telugu

ఇహ్

eh in Kannada

ಇಹ್

eh in Tagalog

used to mean “What?”
ha

eh in Persian

used as a tag question
نه؟ na?
used to mean “What?”
ها hâ
More languagesFewer languages
eh in Thai
นะ ná, เนอะ nə́, หา hǎa
eh in Vietnamese
nhỉ, nhé, hả

Examples of eh in a sentence

  • You think I can't beat you in a race, eh? We'll see.
  • San Francisco, eh? That's funny, I was there just the other day.
  • Just one six-pack of beer left, eh? Well, that'll do for this weekend.

All 40 example sentences with eh

Synonyms of eh

1 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of eh

Forms of eh

Interjection
alternative formay
alternative formehh
alternative formehhh
alternative misspellingaye
Verb
third-person singular presentehs
present participleehing
past participleehed
pastehed

Origin of eh

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.

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

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

Phrases with eh

Words that rhyme with eh

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about eh

What does eh mean?
Eh means used as a tag question, to emphasise what goes before or to request that the listener express an opinion about what has been said.
What is eh in Telugu?
Eh in Telugu is ఇహ్. See Eh meaning in Telugu.
What part of speech is eh?
Eh can be an interjection, a verb, an adjective or an adverb.
How do you pronounce eh?
Eh is pronounced /eɪ/ (Canada).

Words near eh in the dictionary

  1. egyptology
  2. Egyptomania
  3. Egyptophile
  4. Egyptophiles
  5. Egyptophobic
  6. eh
  7. eh eh eh
  8. eh Tiong
  9. eh up
  10. EH&S
  11. Ehardt

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: eh (page history and authors); EH (page history and authors); eH (page history and authors); eh (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); eh (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-ca-eh.ogg, EN-AU ck1 eh.ogg, Eh-sound.ogg.

Cite this entry: “eh.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/eh. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.