Chinese–EnglishWith examples

开玩笑

kāi wán xiào · kai wan xiao

Traditional 開玩笑

HSK 1Old HSK 4

Meaning

CC-CEDICT
  1. to play a joke; to make fun of; to joke
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In a conversation

0:17 cartoon

Are you joking?

  1. Dengdeng

    亮亮(liàngliàng)，我(wǒ)明天(míngtiān)要(yào)去(qù)月球(yuèqiú)。

    Liangliang, I'm going to the moon tomorrow.

  2. Liangliang

    你(nǐ)开玩笑(kāiwánxiào)吧(ba)？

    You're joking, right?

  3. Dengdeng

    我(wǒ)没(méi)开玩笑(kāiwánxiào)！我(wǒ)买(mǎi)了(le)票(piào)。

    I'm not joking! I bought a ticket.

  4. Liangliang

    真的(zhēnde)？给(gěi)我(wǒ)看看(kànkan)。

    Really? Let me see it.

  5. Dengdeng

    ……好吧(hǎoba)，我(wǒ)开玩笑(kāiwánxiào)的(de)。

    …Okay, I was joking.

  6. Liangliang

    我(wǒ)就(jiù)知道(zhīdào)。

    I knew it.

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In a sentence

2 examples
01

他(tā)这(zhè)次(cì)测(cè)验(yàn)不(bù)合(hé)格(gé)可(kě)不(bú)是(shì)开(kāi)玩(wán)笑(xiào)的(de)。

His failing the test is no laughing matter.

Tatoeba: Chinese by nickyeow · English by CM · CC BY 2.0 FR. Simplified Chinese conversion; Pinyin added or corrected.

02

我(wǒ)只(zhǐ)是(shì)开(kāi)玩(wán)笑(xiào)，你(nǐ)别(bié)当(dàng)真(zhēn)。

I was only joking, don't take it seriously.

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How to write

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Mainland China stroke order, including traditional characters. Drawing sources & licenses.

The characters

Explore individually
开
kāi

to open (transitive or intransitive); (of ships, vehicles, troops etc) to start

玩
wán

to play; to have fun

笑
xiào

to laugh; to smile; to laugh at

Individual character meanings do not always explain the meaning of a whole word.

Definitions adapted from CC-CEDICT, published by MDBG and its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Pinyin display and entry grouping have been adapted.

More words starting with KExplore words in context