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喜笑顏開

简喜笑颜开 · 繁喜笑顏開

Mandarin · pinyin xǐ xiào yán kāi

grinning from ear to ear (idiom)
beaming with happiness

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Characters in this entry

喜: xǐ · like, love, enjoy; joyful thing
笑: xiào · smile, laugh, giggle; snicker
顏: Look up this written character
開: kāi · open; initiate, begin, start
颜: yán · face, facial appearance
开: kāi · open; initiate, begin, start

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4–2–1 · xi3 xiao4 yan2 kai1

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

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.

喜笑顏開 · find source passages ↗ · 喜笑颜开 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hei2 siu3 ngaan4 hoi1

Cantonese word readings for 喜笑顏開. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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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 be beaming with joy; to be smiling happily

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack