呵呵

Chinese

		expel breath; my goodness; (phonetic particle)	expel breath; my goodness; (phonetic particle)
simp. and trad. (呵呵)		呵	呵

Etymology

Onomatopoeic. Compare English haha. Partly replaced by modern 哈哈 (hāhā) due to sound shift (呵 (MC xa|xaH) → 呵 (hē)).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): hēhē

  (Zhuyin): ㄏㄜ ㄏㄜ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ho¹ ho¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: hēhē
    • Zhuyin: ㄏㄜ ㄏㄜ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: hehe
    • Wade–Giles: ho¹-ho¹
    • Yale: hē-hē
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: hehe
    • Palladius: хэхэ (xɛxɛ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /xɤ⁵⁵ xɤ⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: ho¹ ho¹
    • Yale: hō hō
    • Cantonese Pinyin: ho¹ ho¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: ho¹ ho¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /hɔː⁵⁵ hɔː⁵⁵/

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• Middle Chinese: xa xa

Rime
Character	呵
Reading #	1/2
Initial (聲)	曉 (32)
Final (韻)	歌 (94)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	虎何切
Baxter	xa
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/hɑ/
Pan Wuyun	/hɑ/
Shao Rongfen	/xɑ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ha/
Li Rong	/xɑ/
Wang Li	/xɑ/
Bernard Karlgren	/xɑ/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	hē
Expected Cantonese Reflex	ho1

Interjection

1. (onomatopoeia) sound of laughter
2. (onomatopoeia, ironic) sound of derisive or perfunctory laughter

Suffix

1. an expressive suffix for adjectives

Derived terms

(deprecated template usage)

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Japanese

Kanji in this term
呵	呵
か Hyōgai	か Hyōgai
on'yomi

Noun

呵(か)呵(か) • (kaka) 

1. (literary) sound of laughter

Derived terms

• 呵呵大笑(かかたいしょう) (kakataishō)