TongTong
Sign in

笑话 (xiào hua) — (noun) joke; jest; (verb) to laugh at; to mock

Definition

As a noun, 笑话 means 'joke' — a funny story you tell (他说了一个笑话), versus 开玩笑 which describes the act of joking. As a verb, 笑话 someone means to laugh at or mock them, similar to 嘲笑 but more light and everyday.

noun
jokejest
verb
to laugh atto mock
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 笑话。
    Tā jiǎng le yí gè yǒu qù de xiào hua.
    He told an interesting joke.
  • 笑话，。
    Bié xiào hua wǒ, wǒ hái zài xué xí.
    Don't laugh at me — I'm still learning.
  • 笑话。
    Dà jiā dōu xiào hua tā de yī fu.
    Everyone laughed at his clothes.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

笑xiàolaugh
话huàwords

笑 means laugh, 话 means words; together they name words that make people laugh, hence to mock.

Characters in this word

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
犬犬quǎndog
Sound part声符shēngfú
艸
艸cǎo笑xiào
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

An early 笑 used the grass 艸 for the sound and the dog 犬 for the meaning; later it was written with 竹 and 夭.

Open 笑 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 話; 话 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánword
Sound part声符shēngfú
𠯑
𠯑𠯑話huà
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 話, 言 relates to words and 𠯑 gives the sound; the simplified 话 is a shorthand, so its right side is not that sound part.

Open 话 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 4HSK 2.0 Level 4Communication & Speech2000 Most Frequent Chinese Words3000 Most Frequent Chinese Words5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

Browse more HSK 4 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.