Verified answer

わらうis the word which has wide range of meaning from smile to laugh for English

Shojyowa waratta.(少女は笑った) You can’t distinguish whether she smiles or laughs.

It depends on context.

They, Japanese have the words “ani” and “otooto”, means an older brother and a little brother respectively.

Thus, they would be confused. The English word “brother” says “ani” or “otooto”?

It depends on context, too.

My little compact dictioary says smile = hohoemu verb and noun = hohoemi However -emu is 笑む.

hoho means the same as hoo 頬　"cheek" But, hohoemu is written: 微笑む. I remember another word too something like nikoniko. My Japanese dictionary says that it means 明るくうれしそうな笑い顔をする様子。　There is also an adverb ( nikori ) which my dictionary says is a laugh without sound.... just expressed in the face.

It's Egao

えがお　（ひらがな）

笑顔　（かんじ）

noun:

微笑

微笑み

笑い

笑み

スマイル

一笑

含み笑い

援護

verb:

笑う

微笑む

微笑みかける

笑む