Sections
笑うWarau: what it means in anime
わらう · warau
to laugh; to smile; to sneer
Warau means "to laugh" or "to smile". 笑うな is "don't laugh", and 笑った is "laughed" or "smiled". Context tells you which.
Updated November 2, 2026
Where you hear it
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笑いだした どうして？He's laughing? Why?
Mob Psycho 100Episode 3 · 26 lines in episodes 1–3 -
あ また 笑った。
Polar Bear CaféEpisode 3 · 5 lines in episodes 1–3
From the Japanese subtitles · how we count
Usage and nuance
Mob Psycho 100: 笑いだした、どうして？, "he started laughing. Why?". Polar Bear Cafe uses it the gentle way: また笑った, "smiled again".
Japanese internet slang comes from it: (笑) after a sentence means "lol", which turned into www and then 草 (kusa, grass), because www looks like grass.
あざ笑う is "to sneer" and 微笑む (hohoemu) is "to smile softly". The noun for a smiling face is 笑顔 (egao).
Hear 笑う in Mob Psycho 10026 lines in episodes 1–3 · tappable subtitles · free, no account