nyah nyah
- idiom
- /nɪə nɪə/
- Offensive
:
burla (ofensiva)
- During the playground dispute, the kids laughed and chanted, 'NYAH NYAH' at each other.
Examples
-
Whenever she accomplished something, her brother would shout, 'NYAH NYAH!' to make fun of her.
-
The children sang, 'NYAH NYAH!' to tease their friend who lost the game.
-
NYAH NYAH!
Synonyms
8
9.9
A short teasing sound made by children to mock someone
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
Both constituents are the same interjection 'nyah', which itself expresses playful mockery; repeating an interjection is a common, transparent way to intensify or ritualize that mockery in child language. Because the overall meaning (a sing‑song taunt) follows directly from knowing the base interjection and the pragmatic effect of repetition — a pattern found across languages — a B1 learner who knows 'nyah' would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Nyah nyah comes from the silly sound children make when they tease someone; they often stick out their tongue and chant nyah in a sing-song voice. That's why it means 'to mock or tease'.