洼 (wā): depression, low-lying area, low-lying, sunken

洼 (wā) is a Chinese character meaning “depression.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 圭 (phonetic). It ranks #3818 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 洼 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 河 (hé, river), 海 (hǎi, sea), 洋 (yáng, ocean).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. depression
  2. low-lying area
  3. low-lying
  4. sunken

Etymology & Origin

洼

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵圭 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Practice writing 洼 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
低洼adjectivedī wālow-lying
坑坑洼洼adjectivekēng keng wā wāfull of pits and hollows
坑洼nounkēng wāhole
洼地nounwā dìlow-lying ground
大洼区dà wā qūDawa, a district of Panjin City 盤錦市|盘锦市, Liaoning
大洼dà wāsee 大窪區|大洼区
水洼nounshuǐ wāpuddle
山洼shān wāmountain hollow
8
Total compounds
13
As first character
63
As last character
25
As middle character

洼 appears in 8 compound words: 13 as the first character, 63 as the last, and 25 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 洼 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

淹yān
0.82019 co-occurrences
街jiē
0.61319 co-occurrences
暴bào
0.56219 co-occurrences
雨yǔ
0.55220 co-occurrences
低dī
0.54523 co-occurrences
涨zhǎng
0.51619 co-occurrences
水shuǐ
0.45322 co-occurrences
道dào
0.41619 co-occurrences
过guò
0.39220 co-occurrences
没méi
0.38319 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

暴雨过后,洼水上涨,淹没了低洼的街道。

bào yǔ guò hòu , wā shuǐ shàng zhǎng , yān méi le dī wā de jiē dào .

After the heavy rain, the water rose and flooded the low-lying streets.

中国新闻网·生活Aug 2026

河谷、低洼地带风险高,提前准备。

hé gǔ , dī wā dì dài fēng xiǎn gāo , tí qián zhǔn bèi .

Riverside valleys and low-lying areas are at high risk; be prepared in advance.

中国新闻网·生活Jul 2026

山东平阴地处黄河沿岸,不少农田是“旱天地裂缝,雨天水汪汪”的低洼易涝地。

shān dōng píng yīn dì chǔ huáng hé yán àn , bù shǎo nóng tián shì hàn tiān dì liè féng , yǔ tiān shuǐ wāng wāng de dī wā yì lào dì .

Located along the banks of the Yellow River, Pingyin County in Shandong Province has many farmlands that are low-lying and prone to flooding—areas where “the ground cracks during dry spells and becomes waterlogged when it rains.”

少数派Jul 2026

这也给了我个教训,想拍星星除了考虑规避人造光源也得选一个洼地规避月光的影响。

zhè yě gěi le wǒ gè jiào xùn , xiǎng pāi xīng xīng chú le kǎo lǜ guī bì rén zào guāng yuán yě dé xuǎn yī gè wā dì guī bì yuè guāng de yǐng xiǎng .

This taught me a lesson: when photographing stars, in addition to avoiding artificial light sources, you also need to choose a low-lying area to minimize the impact of moonlight.

中国新闻网·生活Jun 2026

需注意以下几点↓ 避开积水路段 遇到低洼积水路段注意绕行,切勿强行涉水通过。

xū zhù yì yǐ xià jī diǎn bì kāi jī shuǐ lù duàn yù dào dī wā jī shuǐ lù duàn zhù yì rào háng , qiē wù qiáng háng shè shuǐ tōng guò .

Please keep the following points in mind ↓ Avoid flooded areas. If you encounter low-lying areas with standing water, be sure to take a detour; never attempt to drive through the water.

中国新闻网·生活Jun 2026

公众需检查房屋排水、避免进入低洼地带,视情况调整户外作业和活动。

gōng zhòng xū jiǎn chá fáng wū pái shuǐ , bì miǎn jìn rù dī wā dì dài , shì qíng kuàng diào zhěng hù wài zuò yè hé huó dòng .

The public should check their home's drainage systems, avoid low-lying areas, and adjust outdoor work and activities as necessary.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced wā

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 洼 (wā) mean in Chinese?
洼 (wā) primarily means "depression." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3818 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 洼 and 街?
洼 (wā) and 街 (jiē) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 氵 vs 行 (same 圭 component).
How many strokes does 洼 have?
洼 is written with 9 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 洼?
The radical associated with 洼 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 洼?
洼 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 圭 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵圭 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 洼?
Common words with 洼 include: 低洼 (dī wā, "low-lying"); 坑坑洼洼 (kēng keng wā wā, "full of pits and hollows"); 坑洼 (kēng wā, "hole"); 洼地 (wā dì, "low-lying ground"); 大洼区 (dà wā qū, "Dawa, a district of Panjin City 盤錦市|盘锦市, Liaoning"). There are over 8 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 洼 (wā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation wā: 哇 (Wow!), 蛙 (frog). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 洼 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 洼 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 洼 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.