傻笑
shǎ​xiào

laugh foolishly

傻 shǎ foolish

Depicts a person (亻) with a gap in their skull (𡕩), i.e. with no brains.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

𡕩
𡕩 Meaning component
mǎn gap between bones in skull

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangsqʰʷraːʔ
sqʰʷraːs

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

笑 xiào smile

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 夭 represents the sound.

Components

⺮
⺮ Unknown component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of 竹. The original connection of this component to "laugh" is unclear.

夭
夭 Sound component
yāo, wò, wāi die young

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjewH[s-l]aw-s to laugh

說文解字

《說文新附》：“此字本闕。臣鉉等案：孫愐《唐韻》引《說文》云‘喜也，从竹，从犬’，而不述其義。今俗皆从犬。又案：李陽冰刊定《說文》‘从竹，从夭’，義云‘竹得風其體夭屈如人之笑’。未知其審。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)