挖呀挖

wāyawā

phrase

Meanings

1 "dig and dig"
2 2023 viral Douyin nursery-rhyme meme

Characters

(exclamation particle)

Examples

HSK 2

去年全网都在唱挖呀挖。

Qùnián quán wǎng dōu zài chàng wāyawā.

Last year the whole internet was singing 'dig and dig.'

HSK 4

这首歌本来是幼儿园老师教的。

Zhè shǒu gē běnlái shì yòu'éryuán lǎoshī jiāo de.

This song was originally taught by kindergarten teachers.

HSK 6

"在小小的花园里挖呀挖呀挖"。

" Zài xiǎoxiǎode huāyuánlǐ wāyawā ya wā ".

'In the tiny little garden, I dig and dig and dig.'

Tips

culture

Meme exploded April 2023 when Hangzhou kindergarten teacher Huang Laoshi (黄老师) posted a clip singing the nursery rhyme with hand gestures. Lyrics: 在小小的花园里面挖呀挖呀挖/种小小的种子开小小的花 ('in the tiny garden I dig and dig/plant tiny seeds, grow tiny flowers'). Spawned endless parodies and temporarily made 'kindergarten teacher' a viral Douyin aesthetic.

register

Spoken/chat-only. Peak usage was mid-2023; now mostly nostalgic or ironic. Emblematic of the 洗脑神曲 ('earworm god-song') phenomenon on Chinese short-video platforms.

In Pop Culture

抖音 Dǒuyīn

Douyin

Chinese short-video app (Chinese version of TikTok) operated by ByteDance; the platform where 挖呀挖 went viral.

Stroke Order

挖 wā

呀 ya