开玩笑

kāi wán xiào

HSK 2.0 Level 4 HSK 3.0 Level 4 Common

Definitions

1. to play a joke
2. to make fun of
3. to joke

Word relationships

Antonyms

1 item

认真

rèn zhēn

conscientious

to be serious; opposite of joking

Related words

1 item

逗乐

dòu lè

to amuse oneself

to amuse or entertain; similar playful context

Synonyms

2 items

打趣

dǎ qù

to make fun of

both mean to make a playful joke, though 打趣 is more literary

戏弄

xì nòng

to play tricks on

implies teasing or making fun of someone, sometimes negatively

Usage notes

Common mistakes

开玩笑 is a verb-object phrase; do not insert another object directly (e.g., 开玩笑他 is incorrect). Use 跟/和/对 + person + 开玩笑 instead.

Example Sentences

2 shown

他只是跟你开玩笑。

He is just joking with you.

我开玩笑。

Source: Tatoeba.org (ID 398518)

Sentence data courtesy of Tatoeba.org. AI-generated examples are marked with this icon.

Child Words of 开玩笑

to play

to laugh; to smile

to open

to joke