哇

Mandarin · pinyin wā#

Meanings · wā

  1. Wow!
  2. sound of a child's crying
  3. sound of vomiting
Mandarin · pinyin wa#

Meanings · wa

  1. replaces 啊 a when following the vowel "u" or "ao"
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Characters in this entry

哇
wa · vomit; cry of an infant
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1 · wa1

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1character link18same-tone records
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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

waa1

Cantonese word readings for 哇. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character

  1. Interjection indicating surprise or amazement: wow!, gee
  2. (onomatopoeia) sound of crying
  3. (onomatopoeia) sound of vomiting
  4. (Classical) to vomit
  5. Sentence-final particle: Equivalent of 啊 (a). Only used after words ending in -u, -ao.

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

哇 · wa1 · wa5
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source lines 21,608, 21,609
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source records哇 哇 [wa1] /Wow!/sound of a child's crying/sound of vomiting/哇 哇 [wa5] /replaces 啊[a5] when following the vowel "u" or "ao"/