The expression "huh?" can be heard around the world in 31 languages

IT DOESN'T matter if you speak the language or not, there is one word that is understood almost anywhere you go in the world. And it's not polite.

Huh?

IT ALWAYS managed to peeve your mother. Your teacher would correct you whenever you used it. And it wasn't very popular at grandma's house either.

But you're not the only person who mutters "huh?" when you didn't hear something.

In fact, researchers have discovered the simple expression is almost identical in 31 languages spoken across the world in countries from Ghana and Laos to Iceland and Italy.

The researchers say "huh?" is an indispensable part of language around the world, and is a rare example of completely separate cultures having an identical word to do the same thing.

The Daily Mail reports the Dutch researchers from Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen recorded about 20 informal conversations in each of 10 languages around the world.

These included Siwu, which is spoken in Ghana, Cha'palaa from Ecuador, and Murriny Patha - an Australian Aboriginal language, as well as Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Mandarin Chinese.

All contained a version of "huh?", used to request that whatever had just been said be repeated.

The word was also found in another 21 languages around the world that were studied in less detail.

It is thought that languages around the world have developed their own version of 'huh?' because the sound is quick and simple to form, as well as being easily understood.

And although there are slight variations, all share a near-identical sound.

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