开玩笑
kāiwánxiào · HSK 1
to joke
😜 开 (open) + 玩笑 (joke) — literally to 'open a joke'
开 means open/start, and 玩笑 means joke or jest (玩 play + 笑 laugh). Together: to start/crack a joke, to kid around. The phrase 别开玩笑 means 'don't kid around'.
开 — two hands 廾 + door 门 (open gate)
Originally written 開, showing two hands (廾) lifting the bar (一) off a gate (門) to open it. The simplified form 开 keeps the two-hands element and drops the gate. Core meaning 'to open' extended to 'start, operate, bloom'.
笑 — bamboo radical 竹 (⺮) + 夭 (yāo, bending)
Originally written with the bamboo radical over 夭, depicting a person bending or swaying. One traditional reading is that bamboo bends in the wind like a person doubling over with laughter. The character has meant 'laugh, smile' since early times, with no major shift in meaning.