meh

See also:Meh,MEH,MÉH,méh,and-meh

English

WOTD – 1 April 2009

Etymology 1

Popularized by the American television showThe Simpsons;first used on the show in the episode titled "Sideshow Bob Roberts"(1994). Possibly ultimately from Yiddishמע(me,“so-so”).First attested in 1928.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation,General American)IPA^(key):/mɛ/

  • Audio(US):

    (file)

• (General Australian)IPA^(key):/me/

  • Audio(General Australian):

    (file)

• Rhymes:-ɛ

Adjective

meh(comparativemoremeh,superlativemostmeh)

1. Mediocre;lackluster;unexceptional;uninspiring.
   • 2003,steve-o, “Jam On The River Mini-Review”, inrec.music.phish‎^[1](Usenet):

     They redeemed themselves with this show. The first song or two wasmeh,but they were on fire after that.

   • 2006,Suzanne D., “Recaps: Finals Week 8 Performances, 5/2/2006”, inalt.tv.american-idol‎^[2](Usenet):

     The voice is excellent as always, but the overall effect wasmehuntil the end, where he became a little bit awesome.

   • 2006,FunkyM, “Turned on RAW for the first time in forever last night…”, inrec.sport.pro.wrestling‎^[3](Usenet):

     Nothing that was supposed to be big and exciting came off as such and the rest wasmehat best.

2. Apathetic;unenthusiastic.
   • 2003,Dana, “10/18/03 Shows”,inalt.tv.trading-spaces‎^[4](Usenet):

     Both shows left me feeling,meh.

   • 2004,jennifer, “The FANtasia thing: I don’t get it…”, inalt.gossip.celebrities‎^[5](Usenet):

     I’m a huge Clay fan, love Ruben’s voice, and have become quite a fan of Kelly’s, as well. Fantasia just leaves me feelingmeh.

   • 2006,ettie...@hotmail, “Steve’s impressions on random Genesis games”, inrec.games.video.sega‎^[6](Usenet):

     I liked it but I wasn’t feeling it for some reason that day, again, I was feelingmehtoward video games in general.

Translations

mediocre; lackluster; unexceptional; uninspiring

• Czech:nic moc(cs)
• Finnish:vaisu(fi)
• Hungarian:olyan-amilyen,úgy-ahogy(hu),csak-csak(hu),semmilyen(hu),se íze, se bűze
• Italian:mediocre(it),dozzinale(it),da poco
• Russian:фигня́(ru)f(fignjá)(noun),фиго́вый(ru)(figóvyj)(adjective)

apathetic; unenthusiastic

• Finnish:tympäistä(fi)(to feel meh)
• Hungarian:egykedvű(hu),unott(hu)
• Russian:безразли́чный(ru)(bezrazlíčnyj)(adjective),безразли́чие(ru)n(bezrazlíčije)(noun);по́фиг(ru)(pófig)(impersonal)

Interjection

meh

1. (slang)Expressingindifferenceor lack ofenthusiasm.

   “What do you want for dinner?” — “Meh.I’m not really hungry.”

   “That film was awesome!” — “Meh.I’ve seen better.”

   • 1995March 19, “Lisa's Wedding”,inThe Simpsons:

     Marge:[weaving on a loom] “Hi Bart, I’m weaving on a loom!”
     Bart:“Meh”.

   • 2014September 7, Natalie Angier, “The Moon comes around again [print version: Revisiting a moon that still has secrets to reveal: Supermoon revives interest in its violent origins and hidden face,International New York Times,10 September 2014, p. 8]”, inThe New York Times‎^[7]:

     Scientists say that while the public may think of the moon as a problem solved and a bit retro – the place astronauts visited a half-dozen times way back before Watergate and then abandoned with a giant "meh"from mankind – in fact, lunar studies is a vibrant enterprise that is yielding a wealth of surprises.

Synonyms

• pht,pshh,phht,pssh,pssht,psht,pshht,feh,pooh,pshaw,pish,bah,poh

Translations

slang: expressing indifference or lack of enthusiasm

• Czech:hm(cs)
• Finnish:hmm,pah,pyh(fi)
• French:bof(fr)
• Hungarian:á(hu),ugyan(hu),ugyan már
• Italian:bah
• Portuguese:nhé
• Russian:ну(ru)(nu)(generalising),хм(ru)(xm)(generalising);пф(pf)(more indifference and a bit of defiance);фу(ru)(fu),фе(ru)(fe),фи(ru)(fi)(even more indifference and defiance)
• Swedish:tsk(sv),äh(sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• German:^{(pleaseverify)}mh(de)
• Slovene:^{(pleaseverify)}eh
• Spanish:^{(pleaseverify)}bah(es)

Noun

meh

1. (informal)Ajudgementmarked byindifference;lack ofimpression.

Etymology 2

FromCantoneseMị(me¹).

Pronunciation

• (Singapore,Malaysia)IPA^(key):/mɛ(ː)˦/,/mɛ(ː)˦˨/

Particle

meh(Manglish,Singlish)

2. Final question particle expressingskepticism.

   Reallymeh?―Really?I don’t think so.

   This one your onemeh?―Is thisreallyyours?

   • 2020,Yasser Khan,Property Agent Secrets: The Underground Playbook For Growing Your Property Agent Business in 2021 & Beyond‎^[8],→ISBN,page123:

     "Huh? At this hour? Reallymeh?"He couldn't believe his own ears.

   • 2013October 7, Tee Hun Ching,The Sunday Times,Singapore, page12:

     “Nicemeh?”I would think sourly.

   • 2010August 22, Fiona Chan,The Sunday Times,Singapore, page13:

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

See also

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

Etymology 3

Onomatopoeic.

Interjection

meh

1. Ableatingsound, as that of asheeporgoat.

   Synonym:maa

   • 2017,Amanda Craig,The Lie of the Land,London:Little, Brown,→ISBN,page318:

     'Mehh,'they say to the ewes, and the ewes answer, ¶'Meeehh.'¶'Mheh.'¶'Meh-meh.'

   • 2020,Heather Blake,A Witch to Remember,New York, N.Y.: Crooked Lane,→ISBN,page139:

     Cookie was bouncing around stacks of brightly colored tires,mehhing happily, while Scal stood on one end of a teeter-totter like he was king of the world.

Further reading

• Lim, L. (2007November) “Mergers and acquisitions: On the ages and origins of Singapore English particles”, inWorld Englishes,volume26,number 4,→ISSN,pages446-473
• Leimgruber, J. (2015October) “Bah in Singapore English”, inWorld Englishes‎^[9],volume35,number 1,→DOI,→ISSN
• Lim, L. (2004)Singapore English: A grammatical description‎^[10],John Benjamins Publishing,→ISBN,page121

Anagrams

• 'hem,hem-,hem,Hem,ehm

Albanian

Alternative forms

• mef

Etymology

FromProto-Albanian*meuska,fromProto-Indo-European*mewH-(compareLatvianmaût(“to submerge”),Serbo-Croatianmȉti(“to wash”)).

Verb

meh(aoristmeha)

1. tosoak

Related terms

• muf

East Central German

Etymology

FromMiddle High Germanmēre,fromOld High Germanmēro,fromProto-West Germanic*maiʀō,fromProto-Germanic*maizô,fromProto-Indo-European*mē-(“many”).

Adjective

meh

1. (Erzgebirgisch)more

Adverb

meh

1. (Erzgebirgisch)anylonger
2. (Erzgebirgisch)more
3. (Erzgebirgisch)anymore

Further reading

• 2020June 11, Hendrik Heidler,Hendrik Heidler's 400 Seiten: Echtes Erzgebirgisch: Wuu de Hasen Hoosn haaßn un de Hosen Huusn do sei mir drhamm: Das Original Wörterbuch: Ratgeber und Fundgrube der erzgebirgischen Mund- und Lebensart: Erzgebirgisch – Deutsch / Deutsch – Erzgebirgisch‎^[11],3. geänderte Auflage edition, Norderstedt: BoD – Books on Demand,→ISBN,→OCLC,page84:

Kholosi

Etymology

FromSanskritमेघ(megha,“cloud”).

Noun

meh?

1. rain

References

• Eric Anonby, Hassan Mohebi Bahmani (2014) “Shipwrecked and Landlocked: Kholosi, an Indo-Aryan Language in South-west Iran”, inCahier de Studia Iranica xx‎^[12],pages13-36

Northern Kurdish

Etymology

FromProto-Iranian*mā́Hah(comparePersianماه(mâh),Ossetianмӕй(mæj),Avestan𐬨𐬃(mā̊),𐬨𐬀𐬊𐬢𐬵(maoŋh)), fromProto-Indo-Iranian*mā́Has(compareSanskritमास(mā́sa)), fromProto-Indo-European*mḗh₁n̥s(“moon; month”)(compareAlbanianmuaj,Armenianամիս(amis),Frenchmois,Tocharian Amañ,Englishmoon).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes:-ɛh

Noun

mehf

1. month

Related terms

• mang

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

FromMiddle High Germanmēr,fromOld High Germanmēro.CompareGermanmehr,Dutchmeer,Englishmore.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/meː/

Adjective

meh

1. more

Adverb

meh

1. any longer
2. more
3. anymore

Scots

Etymology

Dialectal representation ofma.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/mɛ/

Determiner

meh

1. (Dundee)my

   Synonyms:ma,wir

   Ehhudmehehon apeh.―I hadmyeye on a pie.

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• mijȇh(Ijekavian)

Etymology

InheritedfromProto-Slavic*měxъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/mêːx/

Noun

mȇhm(Cyrillic spellingме̑х)

1. blower,bellows
2. goatskin,wineskin

Declension

Declension ofmeh

	singular	plural
nominative	mȇh	mȅhovi
genitive	meha	mehova
dative	mehu	mehovima
accusative	meh	mehove
vocative	mehu / meše	mehovi
locative	mehu	mehovima
instrumental	mehom	mehovima

Related terms

• mešina

Slovene

Etymology

FromProto-Slavic*měxъ

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/méːx/

Noun

mẹ̑hminan

1. bellows

Inflection

Thediacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal.If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Masculine inan., hard o-stem, plural in-ôv-
nom. sing.	méh
gen. sing.	méha
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	méh	mehôva	mehôvi
genitive (rodȋlnik)	méha	mehôv	mehôv
dative (dajȃlnik)	méhu	mehôvoma	mehôvom
accusative (tožȋlnik)	méh	mehôva	mehôve
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	méhu	mehôvih	mehôvih
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	méhom	mehôvoma	mehôvi

Further reading

• “meh”,inSlovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU,portal Fran
• “meh”,inTermania,Amebis
• See also thegeneral references

South Slavey

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):[mɛ̀(h)]
• Hyphenation:meh

Noun

meh

1. Fort Liard form ofmbeh

Inflection

Possessive inflection ofmeh(-mehé)

		singular	plural
1st person		semehé	naxemehé
2nd person		nemehé
3rd person	1)	—	gimehé
	2)	memehé	gomehé
4th person		yemehé
reflexive	sp.	ɂedemehé	kedemehé
	unsp.	demehé
reciprocal		—	ɂełemehé
indefinite		ɂemehé
areal		gomehé
1)Used when the subject is a group of human beings and the object is singular. 2)Used when the previous condition does not apply.

References

• Keren Rice (1989)A Grammar of Slave,Berlin, West Germany: Mouton de Gruyter,→ISBN,page11

Spanish

Interjection

meh

1. meh

Zhuang

Etymology

FromProto-Tai*meːᴮ(“mother”).Cognate withThaiแม่(mɛ̂ɛ),Northern Thaiᨾᩯ᩵,Laoແມ່(mǣ),Lüᦶᦙᧈ(mae¹),Shanမႄႈ(māae),Ahom𑜉𑜦𑜧(mē),Bouyeimeeh.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Zhuang)IPA^(key):/me˧/
• Tone numbers: me⁶
• Hyphenation: meh

Noun

meh(Sawndip forms𭑫orMỗor𫰤or𭒛or㜆,1957–1982 spellingmeƅ)

1. mother

   Synonym:daxmeh

2. woman;female

Classifier

meh(1957–1982 spellingmeƅ)

1. Used for adult women who have given birth.
2. Used for female animals that have given birth or laid eggs.

Adjective

meh(1957–1982 spellingmeƅ)

1. main;principal

Derived terms

• mehfwngz