Light-hearted, often playful verbal teasing or making fun of someone, typically among friends or acquaintances.
He's always just teasing.
I laughed off my coworker's banter.
noun, noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no'
window-shopping; browsing; just looking
Going to stores without serious intent to buy; often used in the phrase 冷やかしで見る (to look around without buying).
I strolled around the department store just browsing.
There are many window-shoppers, so sales are slow.
window-shopper; customer just looking
Standard kanji spelling; used in news and common writing.
Variant spelling without the small や; less common but acceptable.
Ateji spelling; rarely used in modern Japanese.
Derived from the verb 冷やかす (to tease, to banter; to window-shop). The kanji 冷 (cool) and やかす (verb-forming suffix) suggest a sense of 'cooling' or 'dampening' someone's enthusiasm, which extended to light teasing and later to browsing without serious intent.