lah

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

Translingual

Symbol

lah

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

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) or 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˦˨/
  • Sense 5: IPA^(key): /lɑː˨/, /lɑː˧˨/
  • Sense 6: IPA^(key): /lɑː˧˦/
  • Sense 7: IPA^(key): /lɑː˧/
  • Sense 8: 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.
5. Used after an assertion to reinforce its authoritativeness.

   These shoes are too small lah.

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

6. (less common) Indicates an attempt at persuasion.

   That area is out of bounds lah, please don’t try to go there.

7. (less common) Follows each item in a 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... […]

8. (in fixed expressions) Used sarcastically when stating the obvious.

   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

• aloue

Descendants

• English: low
• Scots: laich

References

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