HSK 7–9 vocabularyHSK 3.0

哭笑不得

kūxiào-bùdé

lit. not to know whether to laugh or cry (idiom)

HSK 7–9
HSK 7–9 flashcards →Quiz

Meaning of 哭笑不得 in English

kūxiào-bùdéHSK 7–9Syllabus #7808
  1. lit. not to know whether to laugh or cry (idiom)
  2. both funny and extremely embarrassing
  3. between laughter and tears

Characters

哭 on its own →
kū · to cry; to weep

HSK words with 哭

哭HSK 3哭泣HSK 7–9
笑 on its own →
xiào · to laugh; to smile

HSK words with 笑

笑HSK 2好笑HSK 4笑话HSK 4开玩笑HSK 4微笑HSK 5嘲笑HSK 6笑容HSK 6耻笑HSK 7–9搞笑HSK 7–9讥笑HSK 7–9
不 on its own →
bù · no; not so

HSK words with 不

不HSK 1不要HSK 1不客气HSK 1对不起HSK 1不错HSK 2不好意思HSK 2不但HSK 3不见HSK 3不用HSK 3不同HSK 3
得 on its own →
de · structural particle: used after a verb (

HSK words with 得

觉得HSK 1得HSK 2记得HSK 2得到HSK 3得分HSK 3懂得HSK 3认得HSK 3得意HSK 4获得HSK 4取得HSK 4

Level, pinyin and part of speech: HSK Syllabus (CLEC, Nov 2025). Definitions: CC-CEDICT, CC BY-SA 4.0. Sources & licences