Chinese symbol for “sneer”
冷笑
lěng xiào
to sneer; to laugh grimly; grin of dissatisfaction (bitterness, helplessness, indignation etc); bitter, grim, sarcastic or angry smile
The closest CC-CEDICT match for sneer is 冷笑 (lěng xiào), defined as: to sneer; to laugh grimly; grin of dissatisfaction (bitterness, helplessness, indignation etc); bitter, grim, sarcastic or angry smile.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Other Chinese words for “sneer”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 讥笑 (譏笑) | jī xiào | to sneer |
| 齿冷 (齒冷) | chǐ lěng | to sneer |
| 哂 | shěn | (literary) to smile; to sneer |
| 说风凉话 (說風涼話) | shuō fēng liáng huà | to sneer; to make cynical remarks |
| 哂笑 | shěn xiào | (literary) to sneer; to laugh at |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 冷笑.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 冷静 (冷靜) | lěng jìng | calm; cool-headed; dispassionate; (of a place) deserted; quiet |
| 冷战 (冷戰) | lěng zhàn | cold war; (fig.) strained relationship |
| 寒冷 | hán lěng | cold (climate); frigid |
| 冷漠 | lěng mò | cold and detached towards sb; lack of regard |
| 冷却 (冷卻) | lěng què | (lit. and fig.) to cool |
| 微笑 | wēi xiào | smile; 个 (gè),丝 (sī) |
| 笑话 (笑話) | xiào hua | joke; jest; to laugh at; to mock |
| 开玩笑 (開玩笑) | kāi wán xiào | to play a joke; to make fun of; to joke |
See also: Japanese symbol for “sneer”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.