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似笑非笑

Mandarin · pinyin sì xiào fēi xiào

like a smile yet not a smile (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

似: sì · resemble, similar to; as if, seem
笑: xiào · smile, laugh, giggle; snicker
非: fēi · not, negative, non-; oppose; Kangxi radical 175

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–4–1–4 · si4 xiao4 fei1 xiao4

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Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to give a faint or forced smile

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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