ha-ha

See also: Appendix:Variations of "haha"

English

WOTD – 31 July 2017

Etymology 1

A young girl and her aunt laughing

Imitative.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑːhɑː/, /hɑːˈhɑː/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑˌhɑ/, /ˌhɑˈhɑ/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːhɑː, -ɑː

Interjection

ha-ha

1. An approximation of the sound of laughter.

Alternative forms

• ha ha
• haha

Translations

approximation of the sound of laughter — see also haha

• Arabic: هَاهَا (hā-hā), هِهِهِهِ (hehehehe)
• Bulgarian: ха-ха (ha-ha)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 哈哈 (zh) (hāhā)

• Finnish: ha-ha, hah-hah
• Georgian: ჰა-ჰა (ha-ha), ჰე-ჰე (he-he)
• Hebrew: חחח (he)
• Icelandic: haha n
• Italian: ah ah
• Japanese: ふふふ, へへへ, えへ, おーっほほほほ, けけけ (transliterated as fufufu, hehehe, ehe (see heh), o-hohohoho, and kekeke)
• Korean: ㅋㅋㅋ (kkk), 하하하 (k'k'k', hahaha)
• Latin: hahae, hahahahae
• Latvian: hahā
• Persian: هه‌هه (he-he), هاها (fa) (hâ-hâ)
• Polish: ha ha, cha cha
• Portuguese: haha
• Russian: ха-ха-ха (ru) (xa-xa-xa)
• Spanish: jajaja
• Swedish: haha (sv), hihi (sv)
• Tajik: ха-ха (tg) (xa-xa)
• Turkmen: ha-ha
• Uyghur: خاخا (xaxa)
• Uzbek: ha-ha (uz)

See also

• hehe
• ho, ho, ho
• tee hee

Noun

ha-ha (plural ha-has)

1. A laugh.
   • 1916 June, The Electrical Experimenter, New York, page 141, column 1:

     His ha-ha grated on our ears as he fled down the stairs three steps at a time with us in hot pursuit.

   • 1957, Ernie Kovacs, Zoomar: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, →OCLC, page 28:

     Ha-has from both sides of the door.

   • 1997, David Gessner, A Wild, Rank Place: One Year on Cape Cod, Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, →ISBN, page 90:

     We had a fine dinner, punctuated with Heidi's loud ha-has and lots of wine.

   • 2012, David Mazzarella, “Benigna’s Story”, in Always Eat the Hard Crust of the Bread: Recollections and Recipes from My Centenarian Mother, Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, in association with TPD Publishing LLC, →ISBN, page 24:

     Not just giggles or a few ha-has, but the paralyzing kind of laughter, when the eyes tear and the nose runs and one gasps seemingly unto apoplexy.

2. Something funny; a joke.
   • 1983 March, Patricia Sharpe, Helen Thompson, “Around the State: A Selective Statewide Guide to Amusements and Events”, in Texas Monthly, volume 11, number 3, Austin, Tx.: Texas Monthly, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 68, column 3:

     Durty Nelly's, […] You'll catch a few ha-has and even a golden memory or two singing along with the house piano player.

   • 1996, Lois A. Chaber, “Sir Charles Grandison and the Human Prospect”, in Albert J. Rivero, editor, New Essays on Samuel Richardson, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 196:

     She is not rewarded until she learns to reduce her expectations, and surprises (the ha-has of this novel) are the educational tool.

   • 2005 December, Sue Grafton, S is for Silence, New York, N.Y.: Putnam, →ISBN:

     If Kathy had been with us, she'd have countered with a few ha-has of her own, thus guaranteeing a laugh at his expense.

Verb

ha-ha (third-person singular simple present ha-has or ha-ha's, present participle ha-haing or ha-ha-ing or ha-ha'ing, simple past and past participle ha-haed or ha-ha-ed or ha-ha'ed or ha-ha'd)

1. To laugh.
   • 1863, Hearton Drille [pseudonym; Jeannie H. Grey], Tactics; Or, Cupid in Shoulder-Straps. A West Point Love Story., New York, N.Y.: Carleton, […], page 214:

     He was much affected, said it was his lullaby when he was a baby, that she must stop or she would have him boo-hoo-ing right out. But he was ha-ha-ing a few moments after, and begging her “To take him for her lover, and let all those inconstant swains glide, they were not worth one of those invaluable pearls he saw in her eyes, when he met her.”

   • 1893, “Address by Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.”, in Annual Graduating Exercises of Peirce School of Business and Shorthand American Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pa., Thomas May Peirce, page 131:

     Out with the fashion that will let a man smile, but pronounces him vulgar if he ha-ha’s.

   • 1874, Katy Crane, “A Day at Deacon Potts’s”, in T[imothy] S[hay] Arthur, editor, Arthur’s Illustrated Home Magazine, volume XLII, Philadelphia, Pa.: T. S. Arthur & Son, page 651:

     She ha-ha’d like a boy over the sport.

   • 1915, Richard Sylvester, Me—My Boy—and—the Bass, page 39:

     Though somewhat worn and excited, with several respectable swellings as a reminder of his experience with the new bait the boys had provided, he ha-ha-ed at the practical joke and carried it home with him that evening as the most enjoyable part of the afternoon’s trip.

   • 1932, Catharine Brody, Nobody Starves, page 45:

     Charlie had tipped back his chair, thrown back his head and was ha-haing at some pleasantry uttered by the man with the hay-colored hair.

   • 2012, Sandra Kring, chapter 6, in A Life of Bright Ideas, Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 60:

     “I’ve missed you, Bunny!” she said. I started laughing and Winnalee looked up and grinned. “What? I did!” She looked at Aunt Verdella, who was ha-ha’ing, and suddenly Winnalee’s eyes narrowed and her lips parted, as though she just realized it wasn’t 1961 anymore, and, in spite of still having the oomph of a shaken can of soda pop, Aunt Verdella had aged to old.

   • 2014, David DeGeorge, Friendship, Whiskey Creek Press, →ISBN:

     Arturo ha-ha’ed though his face showed no upturned mouth.

Etymology 2

A ha-ha near Parham House in Parham Park, West Sussex, England, UK

From French haha, supposedly from ha! as an expression of surprise.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑːhɑː/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑˌhɑ/

Noun

ha-ha (plural ha-has)

1. (architecture) A ditch with one vertical side, acting as a sunken fence, designed to block the entry of animals into lawns and parks without breaking sightlines.
   • 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter IX, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 197:

     A few steps farther brought them out at the bottom of the very walk they had been talking of; and standing back, well shaded and sheltered, and looking over a ha-ha into the park, was a comfortable-sized bench, on which they all sat down.

   • 1896, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Sayers of the Law”, in The Island of Doctor Moreau (Heinemann’s Colonial Library of Popular Fiction; 52), London: William Heinemann, →OCLC; republished as The Island of Doctor Moreau: A Possibility, New York, N.Y.: Stone & Kimball, 1896, →OCLC, pages 115–116:

     This pathway ran up hill, across another open space covered with white incrustation, and plunged into a canebrake again. Then suddenly it turned parallel with the edge of a steep-walled gap, which came without warning, like the ha-ha of an English park,—turned with an unexpected abruptness. I was still running with all my might, and I never saw this drop until I was flying headlong through the air.

   • 2022, Ian McEwan, Lessons, page 175:

     A moody stroll through the oaks and bracken beyond the ha-ha didn't help.

Alternative forms

• har-har

Translations

ditch acting as a sunken fence

• Finnish: ha-ha
• French: haha (fr), saut-de-loup (fr)

Further reading

• ha-ha on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• ah-ha

Finnish

Etymology

Reduplication of ha

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɑˌhɑ/, [ˈhɑ̝ˌhɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -ɑ
• Hyphenation^(key): ha‧ha

Interjection

ha-ha

1. ha-ha, haha (onomatopoeic representation of laughter)

Anagrams

• ahah

Hokkien

For pronunciation and definitions of ha-ha – see 哈哈 (“the sound of someone laughing out loud; the sound of someone laughing out loud; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 哈哈).