leh

From Hokkien 咧 (--leh).

• (Singapore, Malaysia)
  • IPA^(key): (Senses 1, 3, 4) /lɛ˧/, /le˧/, (interrogative) [lɛ˦]
  • IPA^(key): (Sense 2) /lɛ˨/

leh (Manglish, Singlish)

1. Used to express uncertainty.

   Our appointment leh? ― What about our appointment?

   No leh, it's right here. ― No? It's right here.

   • 2002 May 14, Niamh O’Leary, The Straits Times, Singapore, page L2:

     OK, this one, leh?

   • 2010 August 22, Fiona Chan, The Sunday Times, Singapore, page 13:

     You got send [e-mail] meh? I never receive leh.

2. Highlights new and relevant information.

   It's next week leh. ― Just so you know, it's next week.

   • 2005 April 22, Lee Kin Mun, Today, Singapore, page 30:

     Thirty-five thousand jobs, leh. Not something to sneeze at.

3. Used to indicate disagreement with a suggestion.

   — We can try taking the train.
   — I don’t think we’ll have enough time leh.

4. Marks a tentative request or reminder.

   Close the door leh. ― Why don't you close the door?

   • 1994, C.S. Chong, NS: An Air-Level Story, page 29:

     Sing us a song, leh.

• (Singlish particles): ah, hor, know, lah, liao, lor, mah, meh, one, sia, what

• (unrelated etymologically) leh chey

• Low, Ee Ling, Brown, Adam (2005) English in Singapore: An Introduction‎
• Botha, W. (2019) “‘Technically wrong leh’: Leh as a feature of Singapore Colloquial English”, in English Today, volume 35, number 4, →DOI, pages 13–22

earlier attested as ljeh, cognate with Romanian lehăi, supported as Dacian, or substrate.[1] Alternatively, from Proto-Albanian *laja, from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂-. Cognate to Ancient Greek λάσκω (láskō, “to cry, roar”). Present leh occurs almost exclusively in the 2nd and 3rd person, the -a- of which has usually been subject to umlaut.

leh (aorist lehu, participle lehë)

1. to bark, yap

From lehnout, ležet.

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɛx]
• Hyphenation: leh

leh m inan

1. lying position

• leh in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• leh in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

leh

1. (Classical K'iche') corn tortilla

leh

1. genitive dual/plural of leha

Inherited from Ottoman Turkish له (leh, “for him/it; in favor of him/it; to, belonging to him/it”),[1][2] from Arabic لَهُ (lahu).[3]

• IPA^(key): /ˈleh/
• Hyphenation: leh

leh (definite accusative lehi, plural lehler)

1. (chiefly in possessive, with dative or locative) Being in favor of, favorable or for to a thing or person; one's benefit.

   Antonym: aleyh

   Her durumu kendi lehine çevirmekte uzmansın. ― You're an expert at turning every situation to your benefit.

   Hepsinin mahkemede lehimizde tanıklık edeceğini tahmin ediyoruz. ― We predict that they are all going to testify in our favor in court.

• “leh”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “leh”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 2951

leh

1. water

• J. Spencer, S. van Cott, B. MacKenzie, G. Muñoz, A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Wagi [fad] Language