<p>It sounds really like 害矣 in Hokkien.</p>
<p>If you learn it literally,
害(hāi) means something is really worse, you're in a big trouble, or whatever may cause you to be punished or do something you're unwilling to do.
矣(ah) means an action is done, something is finished or a sentence is ended.</p>
<p>In lots of situations, people may write 矣 as 啊 or 阿 because the way to pronounce 啊 and 阿 in Mandarin is &quot;ah&quot;.</p>
<p>The reason I consider it a word from Hokkien is that Minnan, a region in Chinese Mainland, used to be very crowded. Half of it is hills or mountains, which is not good for planting rice. Thus, in the Ming and Qing dynasty, a bunch of people decided to leave there for Southeast Asia or Taiwan. They also spread this language to these places.</p>
<p>Examples:</p>
<p>害矣，我袂記愛寫功課矣！<br />
hāi--ah, guá bē kì ài siá kong-khò--ah!<br />
Damn! I forgot to do my homework!</p>
<p>害矣害矣，彼叢樹欲倒矣！<br />
hāi--ah hāi--ah, hit tsâng tshiū beh tó--ah!<br />
Oh no, that tree is falling down!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-25T01:14:59.537Z
2021-02-13T11:12:20.663Z
2021-02-13T11:12:20.663Z
kevin pan 
<p>Like Axel said: 哎呀 (āiyā) also 哎哟 （āi​yō）</p>
<p>In English we might say: &quot;Oh no!&quot; or just &quot;No&quot; or &quot;Oh dear!&quot; or &quot;Dearie me!&quot; or &quot;Oh God!&quot; or &quot;Goodness me!&quot; or &quot;Ouch!&quot; or &quot;Oops!&quot;</p>
<p>哎呀！我忘带书了！<br />
Oh sugar! I forgot my book!</p>
<p>哎呀，今天真热！<br />
Blimey, it's hot today!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-03T11:56:17.037Z
I think for 今天真热!, 哎哟, (ai yo) is more appropriate :)
Wayne Cheah
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-03T12:19:22.780Z
By way of explanation, both are exclamations; however, 哎呀！is used for some mild calamity, like 我忘带书了, and 哎哟 when some discomfort is experienced. So, the former is more like "Oh dear" and the latter, "Ouch"
Wayne Cheah
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-03T00:41:25.603Z
2020-08-03T00:41:25.603Z
Pedroski
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/4uFd9.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/4uFd9.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>If you watch the video <a href="https://youtu.be/Z0Rh4OfWr7o?t=147" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Uncle Roger Work at Restaurant for a Day</a>, at 2:27 he says &quot;haiya&quot; as well. If you have closed captions turned on they have the Chinese written as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>嗨呀</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He actually says it many more times in that video afterwards.</p>
<hr />
<p>Someone asked a, almost, similar question on <a href="https://hinative.com/zh-TW/questions/4828826" rel="nofollow noreferrer">HiNative</a> before. There are comments that say:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The word 嗨呀 is a very native interjection( i.e. ahhh)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>and:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;嗨呀&quot;是感叹词</p>
</blockquote>
<p>&quot;嗨呀&quot; is an interjection, like &quot;ah&quot;</p>
<hr />
<p>Pleco C-E also has an entry:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>嗨呀<br />
hāi yā</p>
<p>INTERJECTION<br />
[expressing surprise, pain, etc.]</p>
<p>嗨呀, 你也住这儿！<br />
hāiyā, nǐ yě zhù zhèr!<br />
Why, you live here, too!</p>
</blockquote>
<hr />
<p>In the video <a href="https://youtu.be/FrUfwpaNNIM" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Uncle Roger Review GORDON RAMSAY Fried Rice</a>, Nigel goes in to further detail of what <em>haiya</em> means at ~8:10:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>you use haiya when you're disappointed</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>when you're sad, angry or disappointed - all emotions are inside the word haiya</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>haiya is the MSG of words, all of the flavor is inside</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>your bus comes late - <strong>haiya</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>you run out of milk - <strong>haiya</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>your baby is born with three arms - <strong>haiya</strong></p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-06T09:47:34.100Z
2020-10-03T10:08:39.603Z
2020-10-03T10:08:39.603Z
Mou某
<p>Due to the reason that Nigel Ng is a Malaysian Chinese of Hokkien ancestry.
It is probably from Southern Min 害矣Hāi--ah /hai.aʔ/ Literally means broken or suffered.
Which can also be interprete as: done with it, screwed up, damned, messed up, smell a rat, feel wrong, have a bad vibe, writing is on the wall, or have a bad feeling about it.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-25T08:17:12.990Z
Finally! I believe the original form is 害矣啦, but I need more people to confirm this.
wada
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-18T06:00:52.547Z
2020-10-18T06:00:52.547Z
Timorepeto
<p>The Standard Chinese term would be 哎呀 (āi yā).</p>
<p>However, you might notice others might pronounce it like ài ya. This is simply because no one exclaims in a “standardised” way.</p>
<p>Your interpretation of “Haiya” can also be attributed to the fact that the expression is merely a <strong>verbal exclamation</strong> which allows the speaker to convey some degree of negativity before starting on his main message. Hence, there isn’t a big difference when someone says “ai ya” and “hai ya”.</p>
<p>The term 哎呀 was probably invented to show that this expression existed throughout society, not the other way round.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-03T05:56:05.607Z
what do you mean by "The term 哎呀 was probably invented to show that this expression existed throughout society, not the other way round."
user4951
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-03T05:58:30.160Z
@user4951 People probably started writing “哎呀” to put this colloquial expression on paper. It does not mean that the colloquialism evolved from a formal technical term.
Axel Tong
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-22T06:26:37.477Z
That's true for almost all words, though. :)
Olle Linge
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-25T09:09:32.077Z
The "standard term" is 害矣啦 from Hokkien
wada
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-02T12:56:04.067Z
2020-08-02T12:56:04.067Z
Axel Tong
<p>Are you sure your Chinese friend is not Singaporean? Lah is super common in singapore</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-24T13:48:48.533Z
2020-10-24T13:48:48.533Z
Jon Steenslid
<p>In my opinion, the word comes from Southern Min, which is a branch of Chinese and is wide spread in southeast Asia. (Uncle Roger is Malaysian.) The word “Hai” （害）means something goes wrong or is broken. So haiya can be simply translated into phrases like &quot;oh shit&quot; or &quot;what the fuck&quot;.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-22T04:45:13.447Z
2020-09-22T04:45:13.447Z
linda121qq
<p>&quot;Haiya&quot; is only used to express sigh of disappointment, probably derived from the more common &quot;Aiya&quot; expression. However Aiya can be used for more different situations other than just to express <em>sigh</em>, but &quot;Haiya&quot; is more specific.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-16T03:10:11.450Z
2020-11-16T03:10:11.450Z
Simon
<p>The term is neither Mandarin nor Cantonese. Both &quot;haiya&quot; and &quot;fuiyou&quot; come from Southern Min, or Min Nan.</p>
<ol>
<li>Haiya = 害矣 (hai7 ah)</li>
</ol>
<p>害 means &quot;bad&quot;. Disapproving. See <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/haiya" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wiktionary</a>.</p>
<ol start="2">
<li>Fuiyoh = 水喔/媠喔 (sui2 oh)</li>
</ol>
<p>媠 means &quot;beautiful&quot;. Approving. 媠 is rarely used and its homophone &quot;水&quot; is used instead.</p>
<p>Note that both 水 and 媠 are pronounced as &quot;sui&quot; instead of &quot;fui&quot;. There is a <a href="http://theumdictionary.blogspot.com/2012/09/f.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">saying</a> that fuiyoh comes from &quot;fulamak&quot; in Malay and &quot;aiyoyo&quot; in Tamil, which I believe is wrong.</p>
<p>My educated guess is that the word experienced a consonant shift: s → h/f. Malaysian Chinese use both huiyoh (<a href="https://okeyread.com/doc_Z3NXajBUdHUyS3pzSEJMSEZEaHF2QT09" rel="nofollow noreferrer">example</a>) and fuiyoh (<a href="https://www.xplodeliao.com/ty0007/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">example</a>).</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-11-17T17:19:31.320Z
2022-11-17T17:19:31.320Z
user
<p>When an Asian says &quot;Haiyaa,&quot; it usually means they are disappointed in an informal way.  Such as: &quot;Haiyaa, you fucked up again&quot; or &quot;Haiyaa, don't waste so much time on this.&quot;  That's basically what it is.  Not to be mistaken for &quot;hi ah,&quot; which means &quot;yes&quot; in Cantonese.  Haiyaa can also mean &quot;never mind&quot; in some cases.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-27T04:57:43.190Z
2020-09-27T04:57:43.190Z
Heo
<p>To be fair, &quot;Haiya&quot;by Uncle Roger should be explain in the Malaysian context.</p>
<p>Side note: Uncle Roger is my senior in Chinese High School.</p>
<p>First of all, it is not Aiya 哎呀 in any way. The only similarity is the 呀, a sound.</p>
<p>Hai-Ya, the main word is the word Hai 嗨, we Malaysian Chinese especially in that &quot;Era” uncle roger high school era. Uses &quot;Haih, haiz, haiyo, haiya, ect&quot; a lot, the sound &quot;<strong>Hai</strong>&quot; is meant to bring out the <strong>feeling of disappointment</strong>, and whatever sound that came afterwards, its just personal preference.</p>
<p>Well, you can try to comment &quot;Hai-yo-yo&quot; at Uncle Roger's video to see if that grabs his attention, or somewhat, it is the same feeling.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-18T10:53:08.367Z
2020-11-18T10:53:08.367Z
Disrudog
<p>Haiya</p>
<p>噯 ǎi, is listed as an expression of disapproval or regret in MDBG.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&amp;wdrst=1&amp;wdqb=%E5%99%AF" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&amp;wdrst=1&amp;wdqb=噯</a></p>
<p>There is also a character (#2025) in {An analytical Chinese-English Dictionary} by Baller and presumably Mathews as well,  pronounced Hsieh4, also read-Hai2, 嗐  followed by the particle ya 呀. It's meaning is given as an expression of regret or surprise and equivalent to the English word &quot;alack&quot; as used in 1900 or so.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&amp;wdrst=1&amp;wdqb=%E5%97%90%E5%91%80" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&amp;wdrst=1&amp;wdqb=%E5%97%90%E5%91%80</a></p>
<p>馬羅伯</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-11T17:03:31.197Z
2020-10-11T17:03:31.197Z
馬羅伯
<p>It's more like Cantonese actually. Its a slam word &quot;閪呀&quot;. Hai means pussy.</p>
<p>That's make more sense as Ungle Roger speaks Cantonese as well.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-03T10:27:11.160Z
"slam word" -> do you mean *slang* word?
blackgreen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-03T10:20:52.787Z
2020-09-03T10:20:52.787Z
hk guy
<p>Actually, HaiYa (閪呀) is a Cantonese swear word. It is used to express frustration, and the meaning of &quot;Hai&quot; is a woman's pussy. However, in this case, it lost its original meaning.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-28T07:55:08.763Z
2020-10-03T02:06:47.087Z
2020-10-03T02:06:47.087Z
user26464
<p>My Chinese friends often say, Haiya followed by something. It's usually done in correcting a person.</p>
<p>It's like, Haiya, don't do this lah, you should do that instead. What does Haiya mean?</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53me-ICi_f8" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this YouTube video</a>, the person said Haiya in like a few minutes.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-02T12:35:45.210Z
That should be 哎呀 (āiyā in Mandarin), an expression of shock + dissapproval.
imrek
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-18T06:16:16.697Z
Uncle Roger actually replied to my video here on what haiyaa means. https://youtu.be/T-EJT5Gs9fw Moral of the story is it's important to know what it means in and out of Malaysia
Dr. Jon Tam
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-26T03:48:13.650Z
probably it's 害矣啦 from Hokkien. In short, Haiya means "oh shoot", but it is only used when you want to show disapproval
wada
<meaning>
What's the meaning of Haiya in Chinese?
# What's the meaning of Haiya in Chinese?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-08-02)

My Chinese friends often say, Haiya followed by something. It's usually done in correcting a person.

It's like, Haiya, don't do this lah, you should do that instead. What does Haiya mean?

In [this YouTube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53me-ICi_f8), the person said Haiya in like a few minutes.

**Tags:** meaning

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: That should be 哎呀 (āiyā in Mandarin), an expression of shock + dissapproval.  
> **username_3**: probably it's 害矣啦 from Hokkien. In short, Haiya means "oh shoot", but it is only used when you want to show disapproval  
> **username_2**: Uncle Roger actually replied to my video here on what haiyaa means. https://youtu.be/T-EJT5Gs9fw Moral of the story is it's important to know what it means in and out of Malaysia  

---

## 14 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2020-11-25. Score: 6

It sounds really like 害矣 in Hokkien.

If you learn it literally,
害(hāi) means something is really worse, you're in a big trouble, or whatever may cause you to be punished or do something you're unwilling to do.
矣(ah) means an action is done, something is finished or a sentence is ended.

In lots of situations, people may write 矣 as 啊 or 阿 because the way to pronounce 啊 and 阿 in Mandarin is "ah".

The reason I consider it a word from Hokkien is that Minnan, a region in Chinese Mainland, used to be very crowded. Half of it is hills or mountains, which is not good for planting rice. Thus, in the Ming and Qing dynasty, a bunch of people decided to leave there for Southeast Asia or Taiwan. They also spread this language to these places.

Examples:

害矣，我袂記愛寫功課矣！  
hāi--ah, guá bē kì ài siá kong-khò--ah!  
Damn! I forgot to do my homework!

害矣害矣，彼叢樹欲倒矣！  
hāi--ah hāi--ah, hit tsâng tshiū beh tó--ah!  
Oh no, that tree is falling down!


---

### Answer by username_9 on 2020-08-02. Score: 6

The Standard Chinese term would be 哎呀 (āi yā).

However, you might notice others might pronounce it like ài ya. This is simply because no one exclaims in a “standardised” way.

Your interpretation of “Haiya” can also be attributed to the fact that the expression is merely a **verbal exclamation** which allows the speaker to convey some degree of negativity before starting on his main message. Hence, there isn’t a big difference when someone says “ai ya” and “hai ya”.

The term 哎呀 was probably invented to show that this expression existed throughout society, not the other way round.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: what do you mean by "The term 哎呀 was probably invented to show that this expression existed throughout society, not the other way round."  
> **username_9**: @username_0 People probably started writing “哎呀” to put this colloquial expression on paper. It does not mean that the colloquialism evolved from a formal technical term.  
> **username_10**: That's true for almost all words, though. :)  
> **username_3**: The "standard term" is 害矣啦 from Hokkien  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2020-08-03. Score: 5

Like username_9 said: 哎呀 (āiyā) also 哎哟 （āi​yō）

In English we might say: "Oh no!" or just "No" or "Oh dear!" or "Dearie me!" or "Oh God!" or "Goodness me!" or "Ouch!" or "Oops!"

哎呀！我忘带书了！  
Oh sugar! I forgot my book!

哎呀，今天真热！  
Blimey, it's hot today!

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: I think for 今天真热!, 哎哟, (ai yo) is more appropriate :)  
> **username_6**: By way of explanation, both are exclamations; however, 哎呀！is used for some mild calamity, like 我忘带书了, and 哎哟 when some discomfort is experienced. So, the former is more like "Oh dear" and the latter, "Ouch"  

---

### Answer by username_7 on 2020-08-06. Score: 5

> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/4uFd9.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/4uFd9.jpg)

If you watch the video [Uncle Roger Work at Restaurant for a Day](https://youtu.be/Z0Rh4OfWr7o?t=147), at 2:27 he says "haiya" as well. If you have closed captions turned on they have the Chinese written as:

> 嗨呀

He actually says it many more times in that video afterwards.

---

Someone asked a, almost, similar question on [HiNative](https://hinative.com/zh-TW/questions/4828826) before. There are comments that say:

> The word 嗨呀 is a very native interjection( i.e. ahhh)

and:

> "嗨呀"是感叹词

"嗨呀" is an interjection, like "ah"

---

Pleco C-E also has an entry:

> 嗨呀  
> hāi yā
>
> INTERJECTION  
> [expressing surprise, pain, etc.]
>
> 嗨呀, 你也住这儿！  
> hāiyā, nǐ yě zhù zhèr!  
> Why, you live here, too!

---

In the video [Uncle Roger Review GORDON RAMSAY Fried Rice](https://youtu.be/FrUfwpaNNIM), Nigel goes in to further detail of what *haiya* means at ~8:10:

> you use haiya when you're disappointed

> when you're sad, angry or disappointed - all emotions are inside the word haiya

> haiya is the MSG of words, all of the flavor is inside

> your bus comes late - **haiya**

> you run out of milk - **haiya**

> your baby is born with three arms - **haiya**


---

### Answer by username_8 on 2020-10-18. Score: 4

Due to the reason that Nigel Ng is a Malaysian Chinese of Hokkien ancestry.
It is probably from Southern Min 害矣Hāi--ah /hai.aʔ/ Literally means broken or suffered.
Which can also be interprete as: done with it, screwed up, damned, messed up, smell a rat, feel wrong, have a bad vibe, writing is on the wall, or have a bad feeling about it.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: Finally! I believe the original form is 害矣啦, but I need more people to confirm this.  

---

### Answer by username_11 on 2020-10-24. Score: 1

Are you sure your Chinese friend is not Singaporean? Lah is super common in singapore


---

### Answer by username_12 on 2020-09-22. Score: 1

In my opinion, the word comes from Southern Min, which is a branch of Chinese and is wide spread in southeast Asia. (Uncle Roger is Malaysian.) The word “Hai” （害）means something goes wrong or is broken. So haiya can be simply translated into phrases like "oh shit" or "what the fuck".


---

### Answer by username_13 on 2020-11-16. Score: 1

"Haiya" is only used to express sigh of disappointment, probably derived from the more common "Aiya" expression. However Aiya can be used for more different situations other than just to express *sigh*, but "Haiya" is more specific.


---

### Answer by username_14 on 2022-11-17. Score: 1

The term is neither Mandarin nor Cantonese. Both "haiya" and "fuiyou" come from Southern Min, or Min Nan.

1. Haiya = 害矣 (hai7 ah)

害 means "bad". Disapproving. See [Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/haiya).

2. Fuiyoh = 水喔/媠喔 (sui2 oh)

媠 means "beautiful". Approving. 媠 is rarely used and its homophone "水" is used instead.

Note that both 水 and 媠 are pronounced as "sui" instead of "fui". There is a [saying](http://theumdictionary.blogspot.com/2012/09/f.html) that fuiyoh comes from "fulamak" in Malay and "aiyoyo" in Tamil, which I believe is wrong.

My educated guess is that the word experienced a consonant shift: s → h/f. Malaysian Chinese use both huiyoh ([example](https://okeyread.com/doc_Z3NXajBUdHUyS3pzSEJMSEZEaHF2QT09)) and fuiyoh ([example](https://www.xplodeliao.com/ty0007/)).


---

### Answer by username_15 on 2020-09-27. Score: 1

When an Asian says "Haiyaa," it usually means they are disappointed in an informal way. Such as: "Haiyaa, you fucked up again" or "Haiyaa, don't waste so much time on this." That's basically what it is. Not to be mistaken for "hi ah," which means "yes" in Cantonese. Haiyaa can also mean "never mind" in some cases.


---

### Answer by username_16 on 2020-11-18. Score: 0

To be fair, "Haiya"by Uncle Roger should be explain in the Malaysian context.

Side note: Uncle Roger is my senior in Chinese High School.

First of all, it is not Aiya 哎呀 in any way. The only similarity is the 呀, a sound.

Hai-Ya, the main word is the word Hai 嗨, we Malaysian Chinese especially in that "Era” uncle roger high school era. Uses "Haih, haiz, haiyo, haiya, ect" a lot, the sound "**Hai**" is meant to bring out the **feeling of disappointment**, and whatever sound that came afterwards, its just personal preference.

Well, you can try to comment "Hai-yo-yo" at Uncle Roger's video to see if that grabs his attention, or somewhat, it is the same feeling.


---

### Answer by username_17 on 2020-10-11. Score: 0

Haiya

噯 ǎi, is listed as an expression of disapproval or regret in MDBG.

[https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdrst=1&wdqb=噯](https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdrst=1&wdqb=%E5%99%AF)

There is also a character (#2025) in {An analytical Chinese-English Dictionary} by Baller and presumably Mathews as well, pronounced Hsieh4, also read-Hai2, 嗐 followed by the particle ya 呀. It's meaning is given as an expression of regret or surprise and equivalent to the English word "alack" as used in 1900 or so.

<https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdrst=1&wdqb=%E5%97%90%E5%91%80>

馬羅伯


---

### Answer by username_18 on 2020-09-03. Score: 0

It's more like Cantonese actually. Its a slam word "閪呀". Hai means pussy.

That's make more sense as Ungle Roger speaks Cantonese as well.

> **Comments:**
> **username_19**: "slam word" -> do you mean *slang* word?  

---

### Answer by username_20 on 2020-09-28. Score: 0

Actually, HaiYa (閪呀) is a Cantonese swear word. It is used to express frustration, and the meaning of "Hai" is a woman's pussy. However, in this case, it lost its original meaning.


---

