mhm.

adj.  unpleasant, as in Deadhouse Gates: Book Two of the Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson.


adv.  yes.

<“Gettin’ t’ you too now, eh?”  “Mhm,” Adam Harmon admitted.  —James Alexander Thom, Follow the River.>

interj.  a noncommittal expression.

<She made some kind of noise, mhm, and gazed at her empty bowl.  —Ursula K. Le Guin, The Birthday of the World: And Other Stories.> <The Chief is sucking his lips so hard that he’s making creases in his cheeks.  “Mhm,” is all that comes out of him.  —Lothar Gunther Buchheim, Das Boot: The Boat.>

interj.  a sound “women are much more prone to make [than men]” while listening, to “indicate they are following what is being said” (Aaron T. Beck, Love Is Never Enough: How Couples Can Overcome Misunderstandings, Resolve Conflicts, and Solve Relationship Problems Through Cognitive Therapy.>


n.  a contemplative murmur.

<“Mhm,” Haber nodded judicially, pondering.  —Ursula K. Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven: A Novel.> <“Mhm,” she said musingly.  —Edna Ferber, Giant.>

n.  an absent-minded acknowledgment.

<“I drank coffee, with lots of hot milk in it, and ate Viennese tarts and—and things.”  “Things meaning salami and sweet pickles?”  “Mhm.”  She looked dreamily past me.  —M.F.K. Fisher, The Art of Eating.>

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