Huh

Podcast 1 · Introduction

Huh

A documentary-style narration: origin, meaning, and feel.

Part of speech

exclamation and interjection

Pronunciation

huh  /hʌ/

Definition

An exclamation used to express surprise, disbelief, or confusion; to seek confirmation or agreement; or to indicate that something has not been heard or understood and should be repeated.

Plain meaning

Huh is one of the most basic sounds in human conversation. You say huh when you are surprised, confused, or didn't quite catch what someone said. It can be a genuine question (huh? meaning what did you say?) or a rhetorical expression of surprise or disbelief (huh — that's unexpected). It is remarkably consistent across human languages.

Register

Informal. Huh is conversational, not used in writing except to represent speech. It is one of the few words that linguists have identified as genuinely universal across human languages.