How to Write 洼 (wā) — Meaning “low-lying area / depression”

Picture a puddle (水洼) shaped like a flat jade tablet (圭) filled with water. Or imagine two layers of earth (the two 土 in 圭) with water (氵) collecting in the dip between them, forming a hollow.

First write the three dots of the water radical (氵) from top to bottom, then the 圭 part: two horizontal strokes, a vertical stroke, another horizontal, then a second pair of horizontal and vertical strokes. A common mistake is making the water radical too small or separating it too far from 圭.

The right side is key: 洼 has 圭 (jade tablet), 㳄 has 欠 (lack) and means "saliva," while 汧 has 开 (open) and is a river name. Visually, 圭 has two 土 stacked, 欠 looks like a person with an open mouth, and 开 has two horizontal lines with a vertical stroke.

It appears in words like 水洼 (puddle) and 低洼 (low-lying area), mainly in geography, weather, or literature descriptions. While not in HSK, it can be found in news about flooding or rural landscapes, often evoking an image of a small, water-filled hollow in the ground.

Common words containing 洼 include: 水洼 (shuǐ wā) — Puddle; 山洼 (shān wā) — Mountain hollow; 低洼 (dī wā) — low-lying.