OH Words: Exclamations and Electrical Units
OH sits at a curious intersection of the informal and the scientific. As an exclamation, OH is universal — surprise, realization, dismay, delight all get funneled through those two letters. As a word root, it leads to OHM (the unit of electrical resistance, named after German physicist Georg Ohm) and its derivatives: OHMIC, OHMAGE, OHMAGES. The OH- word family is tiny, which makes it easy to memorize entirely. OHIA is perhaps the most unexpected member — it's a Hawaiian tree (Metrosideros polymorpha) that produces distinctive red flowers and dominates Hawaiian forests.
In Scrabble, OH is worth 5 points (O=1, H=4) and it's valid in both TWL and SOWPODS. More importantly, OHED and OHING are both playable — yes, you can conjugate an exclamation. OHED scores 8 points and OHING scores 10 points, which is surprisingly efficient for everyday words most players overlook. OHM scores 8 points for three tiles, and OHMIC (11 points) is a clean five-letter play that uses common tiles.
Crossword tip: OHM is a frequent three-letter answer, nearly always clued through electricity or physics ("unit of resistance," "Ohm's law unit"). If you see a science-themed clue with three spaces and the first letter is O, OHM should be your first thought. OHIA appears in harder crosswords, usually clued as "Hawaiian tree" or "Polynesian timber." For other short science words that populate grids, see words ending in O for DYNAMO and similar entries, and words starting with K for KELVIN, another unit-of-measurement word. The words ending in K page covers OHM-adjacent electrical terms like OHM... well, just OHM, but the K endings have their own physics vocabulary.
FAQ
Are OHED and OHING valid in Scrabble?
Yes, both are valid in TWL and SOWPODS. English allows exclamations to be conjugated as verbs — "she ohed in surprise" is grammatically acceptable. OHING scores 10 points and OHED scores 8. Similarly, AH becomes AHED and AHING. For more conjugated exclamations, explore words ending in Z where RAZZ and BUZZ follow similar verbal patterns.
What is OHIA and why does it appear in crosswords?
OHIA (also spelled OHIA LEHUA) is an evergreen tree native to Hawaii, dominant in Hawaiian rainforests. It appears in crosswords because its four letters are vowel-heavy (three vowels, one consonant), making it excellent for grid construction. Constructors love words with unusual vowel-consonant ratios. For more nature words that populate puzzles, check words ending in I where many plant names land.