娃 meaning and stroke order
Baby; doll; pretty girl
How to write 娃, stroke by stroke
9 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
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- 9
Meaning of 娃
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- baby
- doll
How 娃 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A girl 女 made of beautiful jade 圭.
Radical: 女 (woman), shared by 156 characters on this site.
How to remember 娃
A girl 女 (nǚ) on the left and 圭 (guī), a piece of fine jade, on the right. Picture a little girl as precious and pretty as a jade carving, and you have a baby or a doll.
娃 (wá) almost always appears doubled as 娃娃 (wáwa), meaning a baby, a small child, or a doll. It also shows up in words like 洋娃娃 (yángwáwa, doll) and 娃娃脸 (wáwaliǎn, baby face). Example: 她有一张娃娃脸。(Tā yǒu yì zhāng wáwaliǎn.) She has a baby face.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes confuse 娃 with 挂 (guà, to hang) or 蛙 (wā, frog), which share the 圭 part. Check the left side: 女 for baby, 扌 for hang, 虫 for frog. Also note that 蛙 is first tone while 娃 is second tone.
Common words with 娃
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
娃 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 娃
How many strokes are in 娃?
娃 is written with 9 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 娃 mean?
娃 (wá) means baby; doll; pretty girl. A common word with it is 娃娃 (wáwa), meaning "baby; small child".
How do you pronounce 娃?
娃 is pronounced wá, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 娃?
The radical of 娃 is 女, which carries the idea of "woman". Dictionaries list 娃 under this radical.
Is 娃 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 娃 is part of the HSK 6 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why is the second syllable of 娃娃 pronounced without a tone?
In 娃娃 the second 娃 is usually read in the neutral tone, so it sounds like wáwa. This happens with many doubled nouns, such as 妈妈 (māma).
Can 娃 be used on its own to mean child?
Yes, in some northern and northwestern dialects people say 娃 (wá) alone for a kid, as in 我家娃 (wǒ jiā wá, my kid). In standard Mandarin, 娃娃 or 孩子 (háizi) is more common.