Kanji 仏 Buddha, the dead, France Related words 布ほ 袋てい Hotei is the specific deity often depicted as the laughing Buddha; 笑い仏 is the statue itself, not the deity.
弥み 勒ろく 菩ぼ 薩さつ Maitreya Bodhisattva is sometimes depicted with a smiling expression, but 笑い仏 is a more general term for any smiling Buddha statue.
Written forms 笑わら い 仏ぼとけ
Standard spelling for the smiling/laughing Buddha statue.
笑わらい 仏ぼとけ
Abbreviated kanji form; less common but still encountered.
Etymology Compound of 笑い (warai, 'smile/laugh') and 仏 (hotoke, 'Buddha'), with rendaku voicing hotoke → botoke. The term straightforwardly describes a statue of a smiling or laughing Buddha.
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