(hā hā) - haha, the sound of laughter in Mandarin
hāhāTraditional: 哈哈
Translation
haha, the sound of laughter
Word origin
Onomatopoeic. 哈 combines the mouth radical 口 with 合 (hé) for its sound, and the doubling imitates laughter.
- Origin
- onomatopoeic
- Root
- 口 (mouth) + 合 (hé, phonetic), reduplicated
Stroke order
哈
哈
Examples
，。
Haha, you are hilarious.
。
He roared with laughter when he heard it.
，。
Haha, I knew that ages ago.
，。
She replied with two characters only, haha.
，。
Haha, stop joking.
哈哈 (hā hā) is the written sound of laughing out loud. It opens a sentence much as "haha" does in English, and it locks into the fixed phrase 哈哈大笑, to burst out laughing, which you will meet in any novel or subtitle.
Both syllables are first tone and stay flat and high. Learners often let the second one fall, which turns a laugh into something closer to a sigh.
The trap lives in messaging. Two characters of 哈哈 on WeChat rarely means the sender found anything funny; it is closer to a polite nod, or a way of closing a topic without saying so. Real laughter gets stretched, 哈哈哈哈哈, and length is the signal. Reply 哈哈 to a friend's good news and you may read as flat.
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哈哈: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "哈哈" (haha, the sound of laughter): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 52.