📖 Meaning
To laugh something off and let it go, indicating that one does not take the matter seriously. It describes a dismissive attitude where a person treats an issue as trivial and chooses not to pursue it further. Similar in meaning to 一笑了之.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the Qing dynasty novel "官场现形记" (Records of Officialdom) by Li Baojia, in the 46th chapter. In the story, a provincial governor initially could not understand why an imperial inspector had criticized a certain official, but later learned it was because the official had been wearing a pocket watch. Finding the reason trivial, the governor simply laughed it off and let the matter rest. The idiom thus came to describe treating something lightly with a laugh and moving on.
💡 Example Usage
面对同事的冷嘲热讽，他只是淡淡地一笑了事，毫不在意。
Faced with his colleague's sarcastic remarks, he simply laughed it off without a care.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 一笑了事
- Pinyin: yī xiào le shì
- Literal Translation: one, laugh, settle, matter
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4