Meaning of 笑
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to laugh; to smile
- to laugh at
- old variant of 笑[xiao4]
How to use 笑
笑 (xiào) covers both laughing and smiling, and with an object it means to laugh at someone. It often appears in 笑话 (xiàohua, joke) and 开玩笑 (kāi wánxiào, to joke). Example: 她笑了。(Tā xiào le.) She smiled.
笑 has bamboo 竹 on top and 夭 (yāo) below. Picture someone laughing so hard they bend over like bamboo swaying in the wind.
Common mistake: Learners often write the bottom as 天 (tiān) or 大 (dà). The bottom part is 夭, which starts with a slanted stroke on top. Also note that 笑他 (xiào tā) means to laugh at him, which can sound mocking.
笑 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
笑 xiào · to laugh · 10 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 笑.
| 开玩笑 | kāi wánxiào | to play a joke; to make fun of; to joke |
| 笑话 | xiàohua | joke; jest; to laugh at; to mock |
| 笑话儿 | xiàohuar | erhua form of 笑話|笑话[xiao4 hua5] |
| 微笑 | wēixiào | smile; to smile |
| 笑容 | xiàoróng | smile; smiling expression |
| 笑声 | xiàoshēng | laughter |
| 笑脸 | xiàoliǎn | smiling face; smiley :) ☺ |
| 好笑 | hǎoxiào | laughable; funny; ridiculous |
| 可笑 | kěxiào | funny; ridiculous |
| 搞笑 | gǎoxiào | to get people to laugh; funny |
| 嘲笑 | cháoxiào | to jeer at; to deride |
| 取笑 | qǔxiào | to tease; to make fun of |
Questions about 笑
What does 笑 mean?
笑 (xiào) means "to laugh; to smile; to laugh at" and is used as a verb.
How do you write 笑?
笑 is made of 1 character: 笑 (10 strokes). That is 10 strokes in total.
Is 笑 an HSK word?
Yes. 笑 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do I say smile versus laugh out loud in Chinese?
笑 alone can mean either one. For a gentle smile, use 微笑 (wēixiào). For laughing loudly, say 大笑 (dàxiào) or 哈哈大笑 (hāhā dàxiào).
What does 别笑我 mean?
别笑我 (bié xiào wǒ) means don't laugh at me. When 笑 takes a person as its object, it usually means to laugh at or tease them.