📖 Meaning
To laugh something off and let it go, dismissing it with a smile rather than taking it seriously. It indicates that one does not attach much importance to the matter at hand.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the modern Chinese novel 淘金记 (The Gold Rush) by the writer Sha Ting (沙汀), published in the 1940s. In the story, a character delivers a viciously sarcastic remark aimed at another, yet the target merely laughs it off without further reaction. The phrase captures an attitude of treating something as unworthy of serious attention or retaliation.
💡 Example Usage
面对别人的冷嘲热讽，他总是一笑了之，从不放在心上。
He always laughs off others' sarcastic remarks, never taking them to heart.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 一笑了之
- Pinyin: yī xiào liǎo zhī
- Literal Translation: one, smile, settle, it
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4