滑稽
huá jī · HSK 7
funny
🤡 滑 slippery + 稽 quibble = slick slippery wordplay that's comical and funny
滑 means slippery or smooth and 稽 means to quibble or argue. Together they name the smooth, slippery quick-talk of a jester whose slick comebacks come off as comical and amusing.
滑 — water radical 氵 + bone 骨
A semantic-phonetic compound: 氵 (water) gives the meaning of slipperiness, while 骨 (bone) supplies the sound. The original sense was 'slippery,' as water makes surfaces hard to grip, and it later extended to 'smooth' and figuratively 'cunning' or 'sly.'