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I'm listening to some dialogues in Japanese and I write them down. I need to
write down sound of laughter in sentence (speech) like in English for example

> Ha ha

What I need should have notion of _laughing at someone_. Is it just simple

> 「ハハ」
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2011-12-21T21:47:28.137
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2021-11-08T01:13:29.023
2011-12-21T22:00:17.260
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question
onomatopoeia
How to write down sound of laugh in speech
That is fine. Alternatives are:

> クスクス 'silently laughing while making fun of someone'  
>  ウフフ 'smiling somewhat silently and often happily'  
>  エヘヘ 'smiling because of being ashamed'  
>  デへへ 'smiling with a slight implication of 変態-ness'  
>  アハハ, ワハハ, ワッハッハ 'giggling'  
>  ガハハ 'giggling out loud or a fat person giggling'  
>  ゲラゲラ 'giggling continuously'

A famous ambiguous sentence when written in hiragana, showing the importance
of having hiragana, katakana, and kanji:

> ははははははとわらった。  
>  Interpretation 1: 母はハハハと笑った。  
>  Interpretation 2: ハハハハハハと笑った。
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2011-12-21T21:54:53.577
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2011-12-22T00:17:05.583
2011-12-22T00:17:05.583
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answer
Someone pointed out to me that all of the "H" group sounds (is there a name
for them?) are laughing sounds. I forgot what the nuances were, but I'll refer
to this [Pera Pera Penguin's 5-minute Japanese
Class](https://web.archive.org/web/20130121043550if_/http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/columns/0002/pdf/ppp095.pdf)
by Hitomi Hirayama.

> はははは - normal laugh  
>  ひひひひひ - conniving laugh  
>  ふふふふふ - creepy laugh; feminine laugh  
>  へへへへへ - shy laugh  
>  ほほほほほ - [elder] feminine laughter  
>

Prefixing an the appropriate vowel alters the meaning:

> あはははは - conniving laugh  
>  いひひひひひ - [elder] feminine laughter  
>  うふふふふふ - creepy laugh; feminine laugh  
>  えへへへへへ - normal laugh  
>  おほほほほほ - embarrassed laugh; shy laugh  
>

![ドラえもん clip with laghter](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4ysvh.jpg)
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2011-12-22T02:00:39.257
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2021-11-08T01:13:29.023
2021-11-08T01:13:29.023
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answer