嬉笑怒骂

嬉笑怒罵

xīxiàonùmà

idiom #54,904

Meanings

1 laughter, anger, mockery, abuse — every register
2 to handle any subject and turn it into art
3 to mock and scold freely

Characters

Examples

鲁迅的杂文嬉笑怒骂，皆成文章。

Lǔ Xùn de záwén xī xiào nù mà, jiē chéng wénzhāng.

Lu Xun's essays turn laughter, anger and invective all into good writing.

他嬉笑怒骂地讽刺了那些官僚。

Tā xī xiào nù mà de fěngcì le nàxiē guānliáo.

He mocked and railed at those bureaucrats in every tone.

Tips

history

From Huang Tingjian's tribute to Su Shi: 嬉笑怒骂，皆成文章 — praising Su's ability to turn any emotional register into literature. Still invoked for versatile satirists.

Stroke Order

嬉 xī

笑 xiào

怒 nù

骂 mà