Word.ws English Dictionary

hi-yah

/haɪˈjɑː/

hi-yah interjection: accompanying an attacking move in (parodies of) Eastern martial arts such as karate.

Interjection

  1. (humorous, often) Accompanying an attacking move in (parodies of) Eastern martial arts such as karate.
    • She leaped down beside him and took a karate stance. “Hi-yah!” she shouted. She kicked as high as she could, first with one foot, then with the other.2017, Jerry Mahoney, My Rotten Stepbrother Ruined Snow White, page 101
    • I double over and hear a karate ninja sound. “Hi Yah!” A sharp chop to my neck brings me down to the floor. What just happened?2020, K. Anthony Wilson, Better Together

Questions about hi-yah

What does hi-yah mean?
Hi-yah means accompanying an attacking move in (parodies of) Eastern martial arts such as karate.
What part of speech is hi-yah?
Hi-yah is an interjection.
How do you pronounce hi-yah?
Hi-yah is pronounced /haɪˈjɑː/.

Words near hi-yah in the dictionary

  1. hi-tops
  2. hi-vis
  3. hi-viz
  4. hi-wa itck
  5. hi-way
  6. hi-yah
  7. HIA
  8. Hia C-ed O'odham
  9. Hiaasen
  10. Hiaasens
  11. Hiabangan

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hi-yah (page history and authors). 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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hi-yah.wav.

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