lah

See also: LAH, -lah, and --lah

Translingual

Symbol

lah

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Lahnda.

See also

• Wiktionary's coverage of Lahnda terms

English

WOTD – 9 August 2015

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɑ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑ

Etymology 1

An anglicised spelling of la.

Noun

lah (plural lahs)

1. (music) Alternative spelling of la

Etymology 2

From Malay lah, Cantonese 啦 (laa1) and Hokkien 啦 (--la). Doublet of la.

Pronunciation

• (Singapore, Malaysia)
  • Senses 1 and 2: IPA^(key): /lɑː˨/, /lɑː˧˨/, /lah˨/, [lä˨]
  • Senses 3 and 4: IPA^(key): /lɑː˦˨/
  • Senses 5 and 6: IPA^(key): /lɑː˨/, /lɑː˧˨/
  • Sense 7: IPA^(key): /lɑː˧˦/
  • Sense 8: IPA^(key): /lɑː˧/
  • Sense 9: IPA^(key): /lɑː˦/

Particle

lah (Manglish, Singlish)

1. Placed at the end of a sentence to accentuate the mood or attitude of the speaker.

   Don’t do it lah, it’s not worth it. ― Disapproval

   Hurry up, lah! ― Impatience

   • 1978, Leong Choon Cheong, Youth in the Army, Singapore: Federal Publications, →OCLC, page 75:

     Don’t know lah […] this is very hard to say.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:lah.
2. Placed at the end of a sentence to convey reassurance or solidarity.

   You won’t drown one lah. The water is very shallow.

   • 1999, Alfian Sa'at, Corridor, Singapore: SNP Editions, →OCLC, page 15:

     Don’t worry lah. We’ll meet the deadline.

3. Asserts that something is clear, obvious or straightforward.

   Go and ask if they can help you lah!

   They’re not wrong lah...

   Just write it down lah, so you don’t forget.

4. Used to tone down an imperative sentence, so that it sounds more like a request or suggestion.
5. Used after an assertive statement to reinforce its authoritativeness, or to show that the speaker is confident in what they are saying.

   These shoes are too small lah.

   No need to count lah. I’m sure the number is right.

6. Used to colloquialize certain responses (e.g., no, ya, OK).

   No lah, it won’t happen so soon one.

7. (less common) Used in assertions to correct a previous underlying assumption; may convey a sense of slight irritation.

   Oh wait it’s not today, lah. It’s on Sunday.

   • 2009, Jean Tay, Boom, Epigram Books, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii, page 21:

     boon: […] You want to go see snow or not, Ma?
     mother: See for what? I open freezer can see already what.
     boon: Not the same, lah… Imagine snowflakes drifting down, melting when they touch your skin. […]

8. (less common) A separator following each item in a conversational list of examples.
   • 2010, Haresh Sharma, Those Who Can't, Teach, Epigram Books, Act I, scene ii:

     He teach them how to cook lah, learn computer lah... […]

9. (less common) Used to indicate sarcasm.

   No lah, no lah. ― Sarcastic reply

See also

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

References

• Wong, J. (2004) “The particles of Singapore English: a semantic and cultural interpretation”, in Journal of Pragmatics, volume 36, number 4, →DOI, pages 739–793
• Ler Soon Lay, Vivien (2006) “A relevance-theoretic approach to discourse particles in Singapore English”, in Kerstin Fischer, editor, Approaches to Discourse Particles, →DOI, pages 149–166
• Lee, Junwen (2022) “An Analysis of Colloquial Singapore English lah and Its Interpretation across Speech Acts”, in Languages, volume 7, number 3, →DOI, page 203

Further reading

• Singlish "lah", with a possible deep connection to colloquial Arabic from Language Log
• Manglish "lah" and its affinity to Arabic "muhibbah" from Language Log

Anagrams

• Ahl, HAL, HLA, Hal, LHA

Malay

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lah/

Particle

lah

1. (informal) Final particle indicating an imperative, reassurance or emphasis.

   Saya ada di sini lah. ― I'm here.

   Kau ni bodoh betul lah! ― You are so stupid!

   Diam lah! ― Shut up!

   Pergi sana lah! ― Go there!

Descendants

• → English: lah (or directly from Cantonese 啦 (laa¹))

Middle English

Alternative forms

• laȝ, laȝgh, laghe, lawe, law, louȝ, lou, loȝ, logh, lough, low, lowe, loue

Etymology

From Old Norse lágr, from Proto-Germanic *lēgaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɑːx/

Adjective

lāh (plural and weak singular lāhe, comparative lāhere, superlative lāhest)

1. low

Related terms

• alowe

Descendants

• English: low
• Scots: laich

References

• “loue, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɑːx/

Verb

lāh

1. first/third-person singular preterite indicative of lēon

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *volxъ, from Proto-Germanic *walhaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /láx/
• Rhymes: -ax
• Hyphenation: lah

Noun

lȁh m anim

1. (obsolete) Italian

Declension

First masculine declension (hard o-stem, animate) , fixed accent
nom. sing.	lȁh
gen. sing.	láha
	singular	dual	plural
nominative imenovȃlnik	lȁh	láha	láhi
genitive rodȋlnik	láha	lāhov	lāhov
dative dajȃlnik	láhu, láhi	láhoma, láhama	láhom, láham
accusative tožȋlnik	láha	láha	láhe
locative mẹ̑stnik	láhu, láhi	lāhih, lāhah	lāhih, lāhah
instrumental orọ̑dnik	láhom	láhoma, láhama	lāhi
(vocative) (ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik)	lȁh	lȃha	lȃhi

First masculine declension (hard o-stem, animate) , fixed accent
nom. sing.	lȃh
gen. sing.	lȃha
	singular	dual	plural
nominative imenovȃlnik	lȃh	lȃha	lȃhi
genitive rodȋlnik	lȃha	lȃhov	lȃhov
dative dajȃlnik	lȃhu, lȃhi	lȃhoma, lȃhama	lȃhom, lȃham
accusative tožȋlnik	lȃha	lȃha	lȃhe
locative mẹ̑stnik	lȃhu, lȃhi	lȃhih, lȃhah	lȃhih, lȃhah
instrumental orọ̑dnik	lȃhom	lȃhoma, lȃhama	lȃhi
(vocative) (ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik)	lȃh	lȃha	lȃhi