挖呀挖

wāyawā

popculture

Meanings

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

Characters

(exclamation particle)

Examples

去年全网都在唱挖呀挖。

Qùnián quánwǎng dōu zài chàng wā ya wā.

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

"在小小的花园里挖呀挖呀挖"。

"Zài xiǎoxiǎo de huāyuán lǐ wā ya wā ya wā".

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

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.

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