bah

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See also: Appendix:Variations of "bah"

English

Etymology 1

Early 19th century, probably borrowed from French bah.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /bæ/, /bɑː/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -æ, -ɑː
  • Homophones: baa, bar (in some pronunciations)

Interjection

bah

  1. (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

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

bah (plural bahs)

  1. 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.

Etymology 3

From Mandarin 吧 (ba).

Pronunciation

Particle

bah

  1. (Manglish, Singlish, rare) Used for emphasis; softens a suggestion.
    I think you should go see a doctor ba.

See also

Anagrams

Dutch

Etymology

Exclamatory

Pronunciation

Interjection

bah

  1. An exclamation of disapproval, contempt or disgust: bah, yuck

French

Etymology

Not well-attested in texts, but of imitative origin nevertheless, similar to bayer (“to gape”).

Pronunciation

Interjection

bah

  1. No.
    Bah, bah, bah !
    No, no, no!
  2. An exclamation to fill space, often used as an intensifier; well, err, um
    Synonym: ben
    Tu veux jouer aussi ? ― Bah, ouais.
    Do you want to play too? ― Well, yeah.

Further reading

Anagrams

German

Alternative forms

Etymology

Exclamatory

Pronunciation

Interjection

bah

  1. an exclamation of disgust: yuck, etc.
    Synonyms: igitt, iiih, pfui, üäh

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

Noun

bah

  1. flood (overflow of water)

Indonesian

Indonesian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia id

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

bah (first-person possessive bahku, second-person possessive bahmu, third-person possessive bahnya)

  1. flood.
    Synonym: banjir
Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Dutch bah.

Interjection

bah

  1. an exclamation of scorn, disgust, contempt

Etymology 3

From Malay bah.

Interjection

bah

  1. an exclamation of intimacy

Further reading

Italian

Etymology

Exclamatory

Pronunciation

Interjection

bah

  1. 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

  1. ^ 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

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

Noun

bah (Jawi spelling به, plural bah-bah)

  1. flood (overflow of water)
Synonyms
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

Noun

bah (Jawi spelling به)

  1. Alternative form of abah

Etymology 3

Shortened form of babah, from baba, variant of bapa.

Alternative forms

Noun

bah (Jawi spelling به)

  1. Alternative form of bapa

Etymology 4

Abbreviation of bahasa, from Sanskrit भाषा (bhāṣā, “language”).

Alternative forms

Noun

bah (Jawi spelling به)

  1. Abbreviation of bahasa.

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.

Alternative forms

Preposition

bah (Jawi spelling به)

  1. Alternative form of bawah

Portuguese

Interjection

bah!

  1. (Rio Grande do Sul) Alternative form of bá

Simalungun Batak

Noun

bah

  1. water
  2. river

References

Spanish

Etymology

Possibly from Latin vāh.

Pronunciation

Interjection

bah

  1. indicates disdain or unbelief

See also

Further reading

Zou

Verb

bah

  1. bet

References

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia