笑

See also: 咲

Translingual

Etymology

Phono-semantic compound (形聲): semantic 竹 + phonetic 夭.

A Chinese scholar once said “when bamboo takes the wind it leans back gently like a man who laughs”. This is only a mnemonic and not the etymology of the character.

Han character

笑 (radical 118 竹+4, 10 strokes, cangjie input 竹竹大 (HHK), four-corner 8843₂, composition ⿱⺮夭)

References

• KangXi: page 879, character 3
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 25885
• Dae Jaweon: page 1307, character 5
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 5, page 2950, character 10
• Unihan data for U+7B11
• 2005, William McNaughton, Reading & Writing Chinese: Simplified Character Edition, 2nd Edition, Tuttle, ISBN 978-0804835091, page 14:

---

Chinese

		-
simp. and trad.		笑

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): xiào (xiao⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄒㄧㄠˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): siu³
• Hakka (Pha̍k-fa-sṳ): seu
• Min Nan (POJ): chhiò / siàu
• Wu (WT Romanisation): xiau (T2)

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: xiào
    • Zhuyin: ㄒㄧㄠˋ
    • Wade-Giles: hsiao⁴
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shiaw
    • IPA ^(key): /ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹/

    • (file)

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: siu³
    • Yale: siu
    • Cantonese Pinyin: siu³
    • IPA ^(key): /siːu̯³³/
• Hakka
  • Romanisations:
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: seu
    • IPA (Siyen, incl. Miaoli): /se̯u⁵⁵/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chhiò / siàu
    • Tâi-lô: tshiò / siàu
    • IPA (Taipei): /t͡ɕʰiə¹¹/, /ɕiaʊ¹¹/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /t͡ɕʰiə²¹/, /ɕiaʊ²¹/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • WT Romanisation: xiau (T2)
    • IPA ^(key): /ɕiɔ³⁴/

Old Chinese pronunciation (笑, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
笑								xiào								‹ sjewH ›								/*[s-l]aw-s/								to laugh
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system: Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character					No.					Phonetic component					Rime group					Rime subdivision					Corresponding MC rime					Old Chinese					Notes
笑					14621					夭					宵					3					𥬇					/*sqʰows/					原下從犬，注或作此。漢書作八下夭

Noun

笑 (classifier 個／个)

1. laugh
2. smile

Verb

笑

1. to laugh (at)
2. to smile

References

• "笑" (in Mandarin/English), MDBG English to Chinese dictionary ( Based on CC-CEDICT ). URL accessed on 2014-02-18.

---

Japanese

Kanji

笑

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. Laughing

Readings

• On: しょう (shō)
• Kun: わらう (笑う warau), えむ (笑む emu), わらい (笑い warai)

Compounds

• 笑酒 (えぐし, egushi)
• 笑気 (しょうき, shōki): laughing gas

---

Korean

Hanja

笑 (so)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 소 (McCune-Reischauer: so, Yale: so)

• Name (hangeul): 웃을()

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

---

Vietnamese

Han character

笑 (tiếu, téo)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.