Where 笑 comes from
A person 夭 with a big grin ⺮
How to write 笑 (xiào, “to laugh”)
笑 (xiào), an HSK 2 character, means “to laugh” and “to laugh at”. It is HSK 2 in the 2025 syllabus, up from level 1 in the 2021 standard. It is a character whose parts combine into its meaning. On its own it is an HSK 2 word; it also forms 好笑 (“laughable”), 笑话 (“joke”) and 开玩笑 (“to play a joke”). Japanese reads it wara-u, “laugh”, as a JLPT N3 kanji.
- Pinyin
- xiào
- Strokes
- 10
- HSK
- 2
- Radical
- ⺮ (“bamboo”)
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
As a top-bottom character it splits into ⺮ (“bamboo”, the radical), strokes 1–6; 夭 (“to die prematurely”), strokes 7–10, written the top first.
- top leftdown and left
- top leftrightwards
- Dottop lefta dot
- topdown and right → down and left
- toprightwards
- topdown and right
- rightleftwards
- leftrightwards
- centerdown and left → leftwards
- centerdown and right
Japanese and Chinese
The two models differ in shape, so our comparison does not claim an order; compare the numbered frames yourself (10 strokes in Japanese, 10 strokes in Chinese).
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Pinyin and meaning
| Pinyin | Meanings | Traditional | In words |
|---|---|---|---|
| xiào fourth tone | to laugh; to smile; to laugh at | — | 好笑 笑话 开玩笑 微笑 |
- HSK 2025 syllabus
- level 2
- 2021 standard
- level 1
- HSK 2.0
- in a level 2 word
- Words with it
- 132 in CC-CEDICT
Words with 笑
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 笑 | xiào | to laugh; to smile HSK 2 |
| 好笑 | hǎoxiào | laughable; funny HSK 4 |
| 笑话 笑話 | xiàohua | joke; jest HSK 4 |
| 开玩笑 開玩笑 | kāiwánxiào | to play a joke; to make fun of HSK 4 |
| 微笑 | wēixiào | smile; to smile HSK 5 |
| 笑容 | xiàoróng | smile; smiling expression HSK 6 |
| 嘲笑 | cháoxiào | to jeer at; to deride HSK 6 |
| 可笑 | kěxiào | funny; ridiculous HSK 7-9 |
| 哭笑不得 | kūxiào-bùdé | lit. not to know whether to laugh or cry (idiom); both funny and… HSK 7-9 |
| 欢声笑语 歡聲笑語 | huānshēng-xiàoyǔ | cheers and laughter HSK 7-9 |
HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).
Practice sheet
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Keep going
HSK 2, in list order: