Meaning
laugh; smile
Chinese: 笑、笑容。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “xiao” becomes a different word in each tone. 笑 is the 4th tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 开玩笑kāi wán xiàoto play a joke; to make fun of; to joke
- 笑话xiào huajoke; jest; to laugh at; to mock
- 笑话儿xiào hua rerhua form of 笑话
- 微笑wēi xiàosmile; to smile
- 好笑hǎo xiàolaughable; funny; ridiculous
Example Sentence
听了这个笑话，大家都笑了。Tīng le zhè ge xiào hua, dà jiā dōu xiào le.Hearing this joke, everyone laughed.
听Tīngto listen to了le(completed action)这个zhè ge(pronoun) this笑话xiào huajoke，大家dà jiāeveryone都dōuall笑xiàoto laugh了le(completed action)。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The bamboo radical 竹 over 夭 (a bending figure): a face creasing up with mirth — ‘to smile, laugh; to ridicule, laugh at’ (笑容, 开玩笑, 微笑).
A way to remember it
‘To smile / laugh’: 微笑 (smile), 开玩笑 (to joke).