哇
wā · HSK 6
Wah!
wā is literally wah — the sound already matches the meaning
One of the easiest Chinese words: the pronunciation wā maps directly to the English exclamation wah or wow. The mouth radical 口 on the left confirms it is a spoken sound.
哇 — mouth radical 口 + 圭 (jade tablet, phonetic)
哇 is a phono-semantic compound. The mouth radical 口 signals it relates to sounds made by the mouth, while 圭 supplies the pronunciation. Originally it depicted vomiting or a child's cry; today it is mainly an exclamation like 'wow'.