smirk; affected smile; fake laugh
A smile or laugh that is not genuine; often carries a negative nuance of insincerity or mockery.
He gave a smirk when he saw my mistake.
The politician dodged the question with an affected smile.
冷笑 is a sneer or scornful laugh, more openly contemptuous than 似非笑い, which can be more subtly fake.
Standard kanji spelling; 似非 means 'pseudo' or 'fake', and 笑い means 'laugh' or 'smile'.
Mixed kana-kanji spelling sometimes seen in modern writing.
Compound of 似非 (ese, 'pseudo, fake') and 笑い (warai, 'laugh, smile'). The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the word has been used since at least the Edo period to describe insincere smiles.