HSK 4 · Verbs

开玩笑 kāiwánxiào “to play a joke” in Chinese

Traditional 開玩笑

What 开玩笑 means

  1. to play a joke
  2. to make fun of
  3. to joke

How to say 开玩笑

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale开kāi1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale玩wán2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale笑xiào4th tone, falling

开玩笑 in a sentence

  1. 你觉得我是在开玩笑吗？

    Nǐ juéde wǒ shì zài kāiwánxiào ma?

    Do you think I’m joking?

    Sentence #786037 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 你一定是开玩笑！

    Nǐ yídìng shì kāiwánxiào!

    You must be joking!

    Sentence #1878342 from Tatoeba

  3. 他只是跟你开玩笑。

    Tā zhǐshì gēn nǐ kāiwánxiào.

    He’s just pulling your leg.

    Sentence #848980 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 开玩笑 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 开 (kāi) with each of its parts in a different colour
开kāito open
  • 一one · yī
  • 廾two hands · gǒng

Memory aidSimplified from 開: two hands lifting the bar of a gate 門: to open.

The character 玩 (wán) with each of its parts in a different colour
玩wánto play
  • 王king · wángMeaning part
  • 元first · yuánSound part

王 hints at the meaning (king); 元 (yuán) hints at the sound. Compare it with wán.

Memory aid王 here is jade 玉: turning a piece of jade over in your hands. 元 (yuán) gives the sound: to play.

The character 笑 (xiào) with each of its parts in a different colour
笑xiàoto laugh; to smile
  • ⺮bamboo form of 竹 · zhú
  • 夭young · yāo

How to write 开玩笑

开 4 strokes · 玩 8 strokes · 笑 10 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

开玩笑 (kāiwánxiào) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 开玩笑 (kāiwánxiào). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 开玩笑

Words with 开

开kāi · to open开车kāichē · to drive a car开始kāishǐ · to begin开学kāixué · to start a new school term打开dǎkāi · to open离开líkāi · leave开会kāihuì · to have a meeting开花kāihuā · to bloom分开fēnkāi · to separate开机kāijī · to switch on (a device)

Words with 玩

好玩儿hǎowánr · amusing玩wán · to play玩具wánjù · plaything玩弄wánnòng · to play with玩意儿wányìr · thing

Words with 笑

笑xiào · to laugh笑话xiàohua · joke微笑wēixiào · smile嘲笑cháoxiào · to mock讥笑jīxiào · to sneer at

More words: Common Verbs

禁止jìnzhǐ · to prohibit究竟jiūjìng · to go to the bottom of a matter举jǔ · to lift举办jǔbàn · to conduct肯定kěndìng · to be certain困kùn · to trap拉lā · to pull来不及láibují · not enough time (to do something)

FAQs

开玩笑 (kāiwánxiào) means “to play a joke” or “to make fun of”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it kāiwánxiào: kāi with a 1st tone, then wán with a 2nd tone, then xiào with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 开玩笑 is written 開玩笑. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type kaiwanxiao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 开玩笑 from the suggestions. Typing kaiwanxiao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
开玩笑 is an HSK 4 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.