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談笑自若

简谈笑自若 · 繁談笑自若

Mandarin · pinyin tán xiào zì ruò

to talk and laugh as though nothing had happened
to remain cheerful (despite a crisis)

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Characters in this entry

談: tán · talk; conversation; surname
笑: xiào · smile, laugh, giggle; snicker
自: zì · self, private, personal; from; Kangxi radical 132
若: ruò · if, supposing, assuming; similar
谈: tán · talk; conversation; surname

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–4–4 · tan2 xiao4 zi4 ruo4

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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.

談笑自若 · find source passages ↗ · 谈笑自若 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

taam4 siu3 zi6 joek6

Cantonese word readings for 談笑自若. 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

(simile) to go on talking and laughing as if nothing had happened

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

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