Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced wa
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced wa, including 瓦 wǎ, 娃 wá, 挖 wā, 哇 wā / wa. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
wa starts on a glide (w-) that slides straight into a; keep the mouth moving smoothly and carry the tone to the end.
Initial w
Start the syllable on the initial w, then run straight into the final a — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final a
Settle the final a into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (瓦 wǎ, 娃 wá, 挖 wā, 哇 wā / wa) and lock in their tones. 4 common characters share the sound wa, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
wa turns up here with 3 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 挖, 哇 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 娃 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 瓦 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing wa inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
4 common characters in this group.