How to Write 吖 (yā) — Meaning “ah (interjection)”

Imagine a person opening their mouth (口) to say "Ah!" and at the same time pointing at a Y-shaped tree branch (丫). The shape of 丫 looks like a fork, and saying "yā" sounds like "yah," so picture the mouth and fork together to recall both the sound and meaning.

Start with the left radical 口 (3 strokes: vertical, horizontal fold, horizontal). Then write the right part 丫: first a horizontal stroke, then a vertical stroke downward, and finally a vertical stroke going left and up. A common mistake is making the right part too wide — keep 丫 narrow so the character stays balanced.

吖 (yā) is an interjection meaning "ah," while 卟 (bǔ) is a rare character used in a few dialect words. 古 (gǔ) means "ancient" and has a different right component (十). Visually, 吖 has 丫 on the right, 卟 has a divination radical 卜, and 古 has 十 above 口.

吖 is an informal, cute-sounding interjection, often used in casual online chat or text messages. It appears in phrases like 好吖 ("Okay!") or 走吖 ("Let's go!") to express agreement or excitement. It is not standard in formal writing and is more common among younger speakers or on social media.

Common words containing 吖 include: 好吖 (hǎo yā) — Okay!; 是吖 (shì yā) — Yes (informal/cute); 走吖 (zǒu yā) — Let's go!.