We mentioned the connection before – צחוק (laughter) is the “noisier” cousin of משחק (game).
The root is צ.ח.ק, and you probably know the most famous person named after this root: יצחק – Isaac – whose name literally means something like “he will laugh.” In Israel, if something is a joke or not serious, we say it’s בצחוק.
In context:
זה היה רק בצחוק, אל תיקח את זה קשה.
It was only a joke, don’t take it hard. (spoken to a male)
How about “just joking”? The best way to say that is סתם.
The word צחוק – laughter is a Level 5 word in the Ulpan La-Inyan system.
