哇哇 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

wāwā

wailing

wa, wā wow!

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 圭 represents the sound.

口 Meaning component

kǒu, kou mouth

圭 Sound component

guī jade pointed at top

Change in sound

哇 and 圭 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
哇 qreː
圭 *[k]ʷˤe

Regular Modern

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	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	qreː
	qʷraː

《說文》：“哇，諂聲也。从口，圭聲。”