笑 xiào smile
Made up of [⺮ zhú bamboo radical 118, 天 tiān sky; day ]Made with 10 strokes.
It is said that the presence of bamboo in the character is because when someone laughs it is like bamboo rocking in the breeze
Ancient small seal form 
Related characters
Also uses ⺮ zhú component: 笔 bǐ (pen) 第 dì (ordinal (1st,2nd)) ; 箭 jiàn (arrow) ; 筷 kuài (chopsticks) ; 算 suàn (calculate)
Also uses 天 tiān component: 袄 ǎo (jacket) 关 guān (shut)
Sounds same
孝 xiào (filial piety or obedience) ; 校 xiào (school) ; 效 xiào (effect)Different tone
小 xiǎo (small)Pronunciation
Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net ➚ under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License
Proverbs
千金买笑 qiān jīn mǎi xiào A target that is very hard to attain. Spending lavishly to attract an alluring woman, A variant of the proverb uses ‘horses bones'’ <% ChUni (??) %> instead of a smile but the meaning is the same - needless extravagance.五十步笑一百步 wǔ shí bù xiào yī bǎi bù Being complacent about the future. Believing a job is all but done when only half done.
笑里藏刀 xiào lǐ cáng dāo Malice concealed by apparent friendliness. There is a story of Li Yifu who was a great flatterer of the early Tang dynasty. He was always smiles but sought to blackmail and deceive. Eventually Emperor Gaozong discovered his duplicity and he was banished.
笑一笑,十年少 xiào yī xiào, shí nián shào Happiness is the best cosmetic
一笑解千愁 yī xiào jiě qiān chóu Keep cheerful against all the odds