哈哈 (hā hā) — (interjection) ha-ha, sound of laughter

Definition

Onomatopoeic laugh in Chinese, like writing "ha-ha" or "haha." Often written as one unit 哈哈 (or 哈哈哈 for a bigger laugh); tone is light and amused, not mocking.

interjection

ha-hasound of laughter

Examples

哈哈，。
hā hā, Zhè ge xiào hua zhēn hǎo xiào.
Ha-ha, this joke is really funny.
，。
Tā jiǎng wán gù shi hòu, dà jiā dōu hā hā dà xiào qǐ lái.
After he finished the story, everyone burst out laughing — ha-ha.
哈哈，！
hā hā, Nǐ jū rán xìn le!
Ha-ha, you actually believed that!

Origin

Single-morpheme word

构词法gòucífǎ

拟声nǐshēngOnomatopoeia

The characters imitate a sound; their individual meanings play no part.

哈hā

The two 哈 characters carry no meaning of their own here; together they spell the sound of laughter.

Sound-only characters

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

口合哈

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

合

合hé哈hā

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

哈 uses 口 (mouth) to show a mouth-related idea, and 合 as a sound part. The shape of 合 may look like two open mouths, but that is likely by chance.

Open 哈 →