"Joke" • Chinese-English Dictionary

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笑话 xiào huà joke / jest / CL:個|个[ge4] / to laugh at / to mock
开玩笑 kāi wán xiào to play a joke / to make fun of / to joke
逗 dòu to tease (playfully) / to entice / (coll.) to joke / (coll.) funny / amusing / to stay / to sojourn / brief pause at the end of a phrase (variant of 讀|读[dou4])
玩笑 wán xiào to joke / joke / jest
打哈哈 dǎ hā ha to joke / to laugh insincerely / to make merry / to talk irrelevantly
闹 nào noisy / cacophonous / to make noise / to disturb / to vent (feelings) / to fall ill / to have an attack (of sickness) / to go in (for some activity) / to joke
谑 xuè joy / to joke / to banter / to tease / to mock / Taiwan pr. [nu:e4]
詀 zhān garrulous / to whisper / to joke
逗哏 dòu gén funny man (lead role in comic dialogue 對口相聲|对口相声[dui4 kou3 xiang4 sheng1]) / to joke / to play the fool / to provoke laughter
逗闷子 dòu mèn zi (dialect) to joke
谐戏 xié xì to joke
逗哈哈 dòu hā hā to joke / to crack a joke
打棚 dǎ péng (dialect) to joke
打镲 dǎ chǎ (dialect) to joke / to make fun of (sb)
𧮪 zhān garrulous / to whisper / to joke
笑话 xiào hua joke / jest (CL:個|个[ge4]) / to laugh at / to mock / ridiculous / absurd
恶作剧 è zuò jù practical joke / prank / to play a practical joke
谈笑风生 tán xiào fēng shēng to talk cheerfully and wittily / to joke together
闹着玩儿 nào zhe wán r to play games / to joke around / to play a joke on sb
梗 gěng branch / stem / stalk / CL:根[gen1] / to block / to hinder / (neologism that evolved from 哏[gen2], initially in Taiwan, during the first decade of the 21st century) memorable creative idea (joke, catchphrase, meme, neologism, witty remark etc) / prominent feature of a creative work (punchline of a joke, trope in a drama, special ingredient in a dish, riff in a pop song etc)
羯鼓催花 jié gǔ cuī huā drumming to make apricots flower, cf joke by Tang Emperor Xuanzhong 唐玄宗, playing the drum in apricot blossom
不是玩儿的 bù shì wán er de It's no joke.
毫无效果 háo wú xiào guǒ to no avail / achieving nothing / totally ineffective / to have no effect / to fall flat (esp. of joke or speech that is completely ignored)
冷笑话 lěng xiào huà corny joke
说着玩 shuō zhe wán to say sth for fun / to be kidding / to joke around
笑点低 xiào diǎn dī amused by even the weakest joke / ready to laugh at the smallest thing
抓哏 zhuā gén (of a comedian) to seize on something sb has just said or done to make an ad lib joke
烂梗 làn gěng lame joke
冷笑话 lěng xiào hua corny joke
靴子落地 xuē zi luò dì lit. the boot hits the floor (idiom) / fig. a much-anticipated, impactful development has finally occurred (an allusion to a joke from the 1950s in which a young man would take off a boot and throw it onto the floor, waking the old man sleeping downstairs who could then not get back to sleep until he had heard the second boot hit the floor)
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