Recorded in the Song dynasty memoir 《
老学庵笔记》 by
陆游 (Lù Yóu): '
乃知朝士妄想,
自古已然,
可付一笑' — 'thus we see that court officials' delusions have always been so; one can only laugh them off.' From 'one laugh' (
一笑) the four-character form crystallized into today's idiom.