Word.ws English Dictionary

lo and behold

lo and behold interjection: used to express surprise.

Interjection

  1. Used to express surprise.
    • Here was I sat down, full of Love and Respect to write my dearest Friends a dutiful and loving letter, when lo, and behold! I was made happy by the receipt of yours.1766, "Miss N", Select letters Between the Late Duchess of Somerset, Lady Luxborough, Mr Whistler, ... and Others, Thomas Hull (editor)
    • And when Regal and I rode down to get it, lo and behold, it's from Patience, to tell us Chivalry's dead.1995, Robin Hobb, Assassin's Apprentice : The Farseer Trilogy Book 1, Del Rey Mass Market Edition, p. 117.

lo and behold meaning in Hindi and Arabic

lo and behold in Hindi

used to express surprise
देखो और अवलोकन करो dekho aur avlokan karo, देखो एवं अवलोकन करो dekho evã avlokan karo

lo and behold in Arabic

used to express surprise
يَا لَلْعَجَبِ yā lalʕajabi

Origin of lo and behold

The lo in the expression probably originated from the shortening of the word look, commonly seen in Middle English texts. Its presence in literature can be traced to at least as early as the 18th century. The literal meaning of the expression is look and see, and it is always used as if in the imperative.

Questions about lo and behold

What does lo and behold mean?
Lo and behold means used to express surprise.
What is lo and behold in Hindi?
Lo and behold in Hindi is देखो और अवलोकन करो (dekho aur avlokan karo), देखो एवं अवलोकन करो (dekho evã avlokan karo). See Lo and behold meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is lo and behold?
Lo and behold is an interjection.

Words near lo and behold in the dictionary

  1. LNWR
  2. Lnwy.
  3. LNY
  4. lo
  5. lo aleinu
  6. lo and behold
  7. lo bak
  8. lo hei
  9. Lo Iacono
  10. lo mein
  11. lo mein loophole

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lo and behold (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-lo and behold.wav.

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