Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced wai
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced wai, including 外 wài, 歪 wāi. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words, and example sentences.
How to Pronounce This Syllable
wai starts on a glide (w-) that slides straight into ai; 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 ai — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final ai
Settle the final ai into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (外 wài, 歪 wāi) and lock in their tones. 2 common characters share the sound wai, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
wai turns up here with 2 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: 歪 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 外 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing wai inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
2 common characters in this group.