bah
English
Alternative forms
- baugh (archaic)
Pronunciation
Interjection
bah
- (sometimes humorous) Expressing contempt, disgust, or bad temper.
- 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 301:
- "To the doctor's? Bah!" said the sorceress, and spat upon the floor.
- 1992, April Kihlstrom, Dangerous Masquerade:
- Templeton looked over the assembled servants speculatively, then shrugged. "Bah!" he said. "They're of no use to me. Come, Andrew, a word with you upstairs."
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
Alternative forms
Noun
bah (plural bahs)
- Alternative spelling of baa (the cry of a sheep or goat).
- 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
- `There, cut his throat quick. Where is the saucer?' `The Goat! the Goat! the Goat! Give me the blood of my black goat! I must have it, don't you see I must have it? Oh! oh! oh! give me the blood of the goat.' At this moment a terrified bah! announced that the poor goat had been sacrificed, and the next minute a woman ran up with a saucer full of blood.
Pronunciation
- (Singapore) IPA(key): [pɑ˨], [b̥-]
Particle
bah
- (Manglish, Singlish, rare) Used for emphasis; softens a suggestion.
- I think you should go see a doctor ba.
Dutch
Etymology
Exclamatory
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bɑ/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: bah
French
Etymology
Not well-attested in texts, but of imitative origin nevertheless, similar to bayer (“to gape”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ba/
Audio (file)
Interjection
bah
Further reading
- “bah”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
German
Alternative forms
Etymology
Exclamatory
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ba(h)/, /baː/, /ba.aː/
Audio (file)
Hokkien
For pronunciation and definitions of bah – see 肉 (“meat; flesh”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 肉). |
Iban
Etymology
From Proto-Malayic *baah, from Proto-Malayo-Chamic *baah, from Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan *baah, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *bahaq, from Proto-Austronesian *baSaq.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bəah/
Indonesian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈbah]
- Hyphenation: bah
Etymology 1
- From Malay bah, from Proto-Malayic *baah, from Proto-Malayo-Chamic *baah, from Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan *baah, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *bahaq, from Proto-Austronesian *baSaq.
- The relation to Proto-Mon-Khmer *bah (“to flow out”) is questionable.
Noun
bah (first-person possessive bahku, second-person possessive bahmu, third-person possessive bahnya)
Derived terms
- bah betina
- bah jantan
Interjection
bah
- an exclamation of scorn, disgust, contempt
Interjection
bah
- an exclamation of intimacy
Further reading
- “bah” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.
Italian
Etymology
Exclamatory
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈba/, which may be followed by [h] or [ʔ] or trigger syntactic gemination.[1]
- Rhymes: -a
- Hyphenation: bah
Interjection
bah
- indicates astonishment, resignation and despise; usually used after noticing or hearing something you don't like or you don't know what to think about, to avoid commenting or giving an answer to a question
See also
References
- bah in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
Further reading
- bah in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Malay
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bah/
- Rhymes: -bah, -ah
Etymology 1
From Proto-Malayic *baah, from Proto-Malayo-Chamic *baah, from Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan *baah, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *bahaq, from Proto-Austronesian *baSaq.
Alternative forms
Descendants
- Indonesian: bah
Etymology 2
Shortened form of abah, from Proto-Malayic *aba-h, from Proto-Malayo-Chamic *aba-h, from Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan *aba-h, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *aba, from Proto-Austronesian *aba.
Alternative forms
Etymology 5
Shortened form of bawah, from Proto-Malayic *babah, from Proto-Malayo-Chamic *babah, from Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan *babah, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *babaq, from Proto-Austronesian *babaq.
Portuguese
Simalungun Batak
References
- Zufri Hidayat et al. (2015). Kamus Bahasa Simalungun–Indonesia (2nd ed.). Medan: Balai Bahasa Provinsi Sumatera Utara, p. 18.
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈba/ [ˈba]
- Rhymes: -a
See also
Further reading
- “bah”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014