Person 1: What is a verb for 'laugh' in Japanese? :3
Person 2: 笑う (warau)
Person 1: Then, what is a verb for 'smile' in Japanese? :3
Person 2: 笑う (warau)
Person 1: ...
Yup, it may sounds absurd. But the verb for smile and laugh can share the same word in Japanese. Or at least, that's what I've noticed so far.
Those two verbs above means 'to smile'.
The verb 笑う/わらう (warau) means 'to laugh', can also mean 'to smile'.
But the verb 笑む/えむ (emu), and 微笑む/ほほえむ (hohoemu) can only mean 'to smile'.
If you want to have them into nouns, then here you go:
Examples (have them put in sentences):
Have you noticed? From the three featured verbs above, there's a kanji '笑' (shou) in each one of them. The kanji '笑' (shou [<- On reading]) means 'laugh'.
Word Check:
Person 2: 笑う (warau)
Person 1: Then, what is a verb for 'smile' in Japanese? :3
Person 2: 笑う (warau)
Person 1: ...
Yup, it may sounds absurd. But the verb for smile and laugh can share the same word in Japanese. Or at least, that's what I've noticed so far.
Those two verbs above means 'to smile'.
The verb 笑う/わらう (warau) means 'to laugh', can also mean 'to smile'.
But the verb 笑む/えむ (emu), and 微笑む/ほほえむ (hohoemu) can only mean 'to smile'.
If you want to have them into nouns, then here you go:
- 笑い/わらい (warai -> laugh; laughter; smile)
- 笑み/えみ (emi -> smile)
- 微笑み/ほほえみ (hohoemi -> smile)
Examples (have them put in sentences):
- 皆が笑ってる? (minna ga waratteru?) -> Is everyone laughing [at me]?
- お日さまが笑いました。(o-hi-sama ga waraimashita.) -> The sun laughed.
- 笑え！(warae!) -> Laugh!
- 笑えば、殺すぞ！(waraeba, korosu zo!) -> If you laugh, I'll kill you!
- 彼女は微笑みました。ほんとうに可愛かった！(kanojo wa hohoemimashita. Hontouni kawaikatta!) -> She smiled. It was really cute!
- そのエピソードのライトの笑いはほんとうに恐かった。(sono episōdo no Raito no warai wa hontouni kowakatta.) -> Light's laughter in that episode was really frightening.
Have you noticed? From the three featured verbs above, there's a kanji '笑' (shou) in each one of them. The kanji '笑' (shou [<- On reading]) means 'laugh'.
Word Check:
- 皆/みんな (minna -> all; everyone; everybody)
- 御日様/おひさま (ohi-sama -> the sun)
- 殺す/ころす (korosu -> to kill)
- 彼女/かのじょ (kanojo -> she)
- 本当に/ほんとうに (hontouni -> really; truly)
- 可愛い/かわいい (kawaii -> pretty; cute; lovely; charming)
- 其の/その (sono -> the; that)
- エピソード (episōdo -> episode)
- 恐い/こわい (kowai -> scary; frightening; eerie; dreadful)
(All the verbs and the adjectives are shown in their plain form)
Author's Note: Don't worry. All things here are correct
. I asked and confirmed it from various trusted websites... I also went as far as to ask a native speaker living downstairs 
.Well, the reason I wrote this lesson was because... At Lang-8 website, I read an entrie from a Japanese student learning English there. He wrote, "I don't know the difference 'laugh' and 'smile'" o_O
It was an interesting question. Here's one of the answers from one of the members:
Laugh = with noise :D HA HA HA
Smile = quiet :)
So, this random lesson came to mind. I thought it would be interesting to share it with you guys! The one word can share the meaning 'smile' and 'laugh' 
! xD
! xD
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