DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

破涕為笑

简破涕为笑 · 繁破涕為笑

Mandarin · pinyin pò tì wéi xiào

to turn tears into laughter (idiom); to turn grief into happiness

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

破: pò · break, ruin, destroy; rout
涕: tì · tear; snivel, nasal mucus
為: Look up this written character
笑: xiào · smile, laugh, giggle; snicker
为: wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–4–2–4 · po4 ti4 wei2 xiao4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

破涕為笑 · find source passages ↗ · 破涕为笑 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) to turn from weeping to smiling, usually depicting a change in one's emotional state from being sad to being happy

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

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