Save Gender Feminine Usage Chinese Scripts 笑筝, 小筝, 霄筝(Chinese) Meaning & History From the Chinese 笑 (xiào) meaning "smile, laugh", 小 (xiǎo) meaning "small" or 霄 (xiāo) meaning "sky, heaven, clouds, mist" and 筝 (zhēng) meaning "zheng zither", "kite".