What's the meaning of Haiya in Chinese? 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, the person said Haiya in like a few minutes.
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.