Smile 🙂😃😄😎🙃

A Japanese word I learnt recently that made me smile is 微笑む (ほほえむ) [ho.ho.e.mɯ], which means to smile 😃.

微笑寶寶

The character (kasu / bi) means delicate, minuteness, insignificance, and (wara / e / jō) means laugh, laughter, smile or sneer. So 微笑 could be translated literally as a “delicate laugh”.

Some related words include:

  • 微笑み (hohoemi), 微笑 (bijō) = smile
  • 微笑みかける (hohoemikakeru) = to smile (at someone)
  • 微笑み返す (hohoemikaesu) = to smile back (at someone), to answer someone’s smile
  • 微笑を浮かべて (bijō o ukabete) = with a smile
  • 微笑ましい (hohoemashī) = pleasant, charming

The existence of 微笑み返す suggests to me that answering smiles with smiles is a common thing in Japan. That makes me smile. Are there words in other languages that mean something similar?

(wara) [ɰaɺa] on it’s own is apparently used as internet slang to mean LOL (laugh out loud) or haha.

Some related words include:

  • 笑う (warau) = to laugh, smile, sneer, ridicule, be flabbergasted
  • 笑顔 (ekao) = smiling face, smile
  • 笑み (emi) = smile
  • 笑い声 (waraigoe) = (sound of) laughter, laughing voice
  • 笑いもの, 笑い物 (waraimono) = laughingstock, butt of ridicule
  • 笑い話 (waraibanashi) = funny story, funny anecdote
  • 笑い出す (waraidasu) = to burst into laughter
  • 笑い事 (waraigoto) = laughter matter

Source: jisho.org

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