eh.
Used as a tag question, to emphasise what goes before or to request that the listener express an opinion about what has been said.
Meaning & usage
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?
In isolation, a request for repetition or clarification of what has just been said.
—I've been studying Graphiurus murinus. —Eh? Studying what?
In isolation, expressing surprise or confusion.
—You're going to be a dad! —Eh? You're joking!
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.
Expressing apathy or lack of enthusiasm; meh.
—Do you feel like going out tonight? —Eh, I don't know.
Expressing apprehension following or preceding a reasoning or excuse; uh.
—Why is it like this? —Eh, It's like that eh.
Where this word comes from
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.
To use the interjection eh.
Where this word comes from
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.
Of mediocre quality; unremarkable.
My French fries were eh.
Where this word comes from
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.
Hey, oi; said to get someone's attention.
An interjection expressing disapproval.
Eh, please don’t say that...
Huh?; expresses confusion.
Where this word comes from
From Hokkien 欸 (--eh) and Mandarin 欸 (ê̄ / ế / ê̌, interjection).
an attention grabber
Eh, come here!
Eh, what do you have?
A greeting between friends (typically male) or display of approval.
Where this word comes from
Probably of multiple motivations, the sounds having been chosen for functional reasons.
Used to negate the following verb; (am/are/is/do/does) not.
Where this word comes from
A reduced form of ain't.
Alternative form of leh.
Where this word comes from
From Hokkien 咧 (--leh), with the l dropped.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.