huh
interjection
- denoting thoughtfulness
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /hʌ/ / [hʌ̃] / /hə/
intj
Etymology: Attested from circa 1600. Compare Dutch hè (“huh”).
- Used to express doubt or confusion.
“Huh? Where did they go?”
- Used to express amusement or subtle surprise.
“Huh! I'm sure I locked it when I left.”
- Used to reinforce a question.
“Where were you last night? Huh?”
- Used either to belittle the issuer of a statement/question, or sarcastically to indicate utter agreement, and that the statement being responded to is an extreme understatement. The intonation is changed to distinguish between the two meanings - implied dullness for belittlement, and feigned surprise for utter agreement.
“(belittlement) A: "We should go to an amusement park; it would be fun." B: "Huh."”
“(agreement) A: "Murder is bad." B: "Huh!"”
- Used to indicate that one did not hear what was said.
“Huh? Could you speak up?”
- Used to create a tag question.
“It's getting kind of late, huh?”
- Representing the sound of heavy breathing.
“He broke into a dogtrot and ran by us. I don't think he saw us. His voice was coming in little puffs, huh, huh, huh, but he probably didn't notice that either.”
“It was up so many flights of stairs that people would arrive for meetings drenched in sweat: "They were like huh huh huh [panting] - where the hell are you?!"”
- Representing a chuckling sound.
“Mr. [Lambert] Wilson says this with a soft chuckle, sounding a bit like huh huh huh.”
“Helen starts laughing, properly now. Huh-huh-huh.”
- A kiai, shouted as a limb is swung in attack.
“Shawn quickly turns around and punches the pale hand, yelling "Huh! Huh! Hi yah'! Huh! Get off me! Yeah!"”
“He gets out of the chair, whips off his jacket, and starts closing in on the camera, punching rapidly as he moves. A left hook, a right jab. "Hey, I'm a boxer and a marine! So don't mess with me, man! Semper fi! Marine Corps! They better not mess with me! My critics better not mess with me, man, 'cause I'm gonna beat you up. Huh, huh, huh, huh, huh. Hmm, hmmm, hmm, hmmmm, heeeyah, huh, huh. Hmmm, yeah!"”
name
Etymology: Borrowed from Korean 허(許) (Heo).
- A surname.