笑话
xiàohuà · HSK 2
joke
😂 笑话 = 笑 (laugh) + 话 (speech/words) — laughing words
笑 means laugh and 话 means speech or talk, so 笑话 literally combines into laughing-speech, i.e. a joke. The same 话 appears in 说话 (speak) and 电话 (telephone).
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.
话 — speech radical 讠 (言) + tongue 舌
话 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 讠 (simplified from 言, 'speech') gives the meaning, signaling something said, while 舌 ('tongue') hints at the sound and reinforces the speaking sense. The traditional form 話 makes the 言 element explicit; today 话 means 'speech, talk, words.'