bah humbug
/ˌbɑ ˈhʌmˌbʌɡ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.49 in modern English
22
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
intj
Expressing cynicism, disillusionment or distrustfulness; and specifically a dislike of Christmas and its celebrations and festivities.
Humorous
Example Sentences
- "Honor!—bah! humbug! Patriotism!—pshaw! / Are we to be bamboozled by such guys?"
- "Only a modern Scrooge could say, "Bah, Humbug," where helping people to get enough to eat is concerned. Well, we are not going to argue that food aid has never filled an empty stomach or saved a dying child—but we will contend, in the case of the United States at least, that it has done so only inadvertently."
- "[O]nce you understand why Bah Humbug is a good term, you will see that it is going to become packed with a biblical position that could warrant every Christian to mindfully say "Bah Humbug" about the Christmas Holiday, and know what it is they are meaning. Bah Humbug is going to work succinctly."
- "This can be bah-humbugged or it can be accepted with a child’s quick joy. Who has the right to celebrate, to adore God for his sake, to muse around a manger, to light the candles and give the gifts and sing the songs?"
- "Once my gear was packed I was eager to go, and get away from Sydney before Christmas found me bah-humbugging my way through a bottle of scotch."
Etymology
From bah (interjection expressing contempt, disgust, or bad temper) + humbug (“balderdash!, nonsense!, rubbish!”). The words were originally spoken by the miser Ebenezer Scrooge in the novella A Christmas Carol (1843) by English author Charles Dickens (1812–1870).
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌbɑ ˈhʌmˌbʌɡ/
- British English: /bɑː ˈhʌmbʌɡ/