呵呵

Chinese

		phonetic
simp. and trad. (呵呵)		呵	呵
alternative forms		ㄏㄏ slang

Etymology

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

呵呵

1. (onomatopoeia) sound of laughter

   • 近作小詞，雖無柳七郎風味，亦自是一家。呵呵！ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     近作小词，虽无柳七郎风味，亦自是一家。呵呵！ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: c. late 11th century, Su Shi (蘇軾), Letter to Xianyu Zijun (《與鮮于子駿》)

     Jìn zuò xiǎocí, suīwú Liǔ Qīláng fēngwèi, yì zìshì yījiā. Hēhē! [Pinyin]

     Recently I wrote some little ci poems. Though hardly comparable to Mister Liu's style, they're in my own character. Haha!

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

   呵呵，你不行。  ―  Hēhē, nǐ bùxíng.  ―  Heh, you aren't up to it.

Derived terms

• 呵呵噠／呵呵哒 (hēhēdā)
• 呵呵大笑 (hēhē dàxiào)
• 樂呵呵／乐呵呵
• 笑呵呵 (xiàohēhē)

 

Suffix

呵呵

1. an expressive suffix for adjectives

Derived terms

• 傻呵呵 (shǎhēhē)
• 冷呵呵
• 怔呵呵
• 樂呵呵／乐呵呵
• 胖呵呵

 

Japanese

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

Alternative spelling
呵々

Etymology

Ultimately from Middle Chinese 呵呵 (MC xa xa).

First cited to a text from roughly 900 CE.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) かか [káꜜkà] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ka̠ka̠]

Adverb

呵(か)呵(か) • (kaka) 

1. (literary) laughingly

   Synonyms: あはは (ahaha), からから (karakara)

Derived terms

• 呵(か)呵(か)然(ぜん) (kakazen, “laughing”, adjective)
• 呵(か)呵(か)大(たい)笑(しょう) (kaka taishō, “a belly laugh, a guffaw”, noun)