eh
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
2 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "eh", 2-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "eh" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "eh" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
eh is anEnglishintj. It means: Used as a tag question, to emphasise what goes before or to request that the listener express an opinion about what has been said. Pronounced /eɪ/. It ranks #4,595 in English word frequency. Often confused with ex and et.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | eh |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Intj |
| IPA | /eɪ/ |
| Letters | 2 |
| Frequency rank | #4,595 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for eh is 2 letters long, classified as anintj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /eɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,595 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for eh in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ex", "et", "EU", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is eh, spelled E-H, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Used as a tag question, to emphasise what goes before or to request that the listener express an opinion about what has been said.
- 2In isolation, a request for repetition or clarification of what has just been said.
- 3In isolation, expressing surprise or confusion
- 4An interjection used to ascertain the continued attention of someone addressed by the speaker.
- 5Expressing apathy or lack of enthusiasm; meh.
- 6Expressing apprehension following or preceding a reasoning or excuse; uh.
Etymology
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.
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #4,595 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter E in our English index: