Chinese character for smile: 笑 (xiào)
The Chinese character for smile and laugh is 笑 (xiào). It means both smiling and laughing, as in 微笑 (wēixiào, to smile) and 笑话 (xiàohua, joke). The same character covers a gentle smile and loud laughter.
How 笑 is built
笑 has ⺮, the bamboo radical, on top and 夭 (yāo) below, which shows a person bending or swaying. The origin is uncertain, so as a memory aid, picture bamboo leaves bending in the wind like a person shaking with laughter, or the top strokes as smiling eyes. The character is identical in simplified and traditional Chinese.
笑 xiào · to smile
- ⺮zhú — bamboo
- 夭yāo — young
- 丿 — falling stroke
- 大dà — big
- 一 — horizontal stroke
- 人rén — person
Origin hint: A person 夭 with a big grin ⺮ (from the Make Me a Hanzi dataset; treat as a memory aid where history is uncertain)
How 笑 is used
Other ways to say smile
- 微笑 wēixiào — a smile, without laughing
Before you use it as a tattoo or design: 笑 means both smile and laugh; 微笑 makes it clearly a gentle smile.
Questions
What is the Chinese character for smile?
笑 (xiào) means “to smile”.
How do you pronounce 笑?
笑 is pronounced xiào.