• (RP) IPA: /ˈhɑːhɑː/, /hɑːˈhɑː/
• (GA) IPA: /ˈhɑˌhɑ/, /ˌhɑˈhɑ/

1. An approximation of the sound#Noun|sound of laughter.

• Portuguese: haha
• Russian: ха-ха-ха
• Spanish: jajaja

ha-ha (plural ha-has)

1. A laugh#Noun|laugh.
2. Something funny; a joke#Noun|joke.

• (RP) IPA: /ˈhɑːhɑː/
• (GA) IPA: /ˈhɑˌhɑ/

ha-ha (plural ha-has)

1. (architectural element) A ditch#Noun|ditch with one vertical side#Noun|side, acting as a sunken fence#Noun|fence, designed to block the entry of animals into lawns and park#Noun|parks without breaking sightlines.
   • 1814 July, [Jane Austen], chapter IX, in Mansfield Park: A Novel. In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for T[homas] Egerton, […], OCLC 39810224 ↗, page 197 ↗:

     A few steps farther brought them out at the bottom of the very walk they had been talking of; and standing back, well shaded and sheltered, and looking over a ha-ha into the park, was a comfortable-sized bench, on which they all sat down.

   • 1896, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Sayers of the Law”, in The Island of Doctor Moreau (Heinemann’s Colonial Library of Popular Fiction; 52), London: William Heinemann, OCLC 892648905 ↗; republished as The Island of Doctor Moreau: A Possibility, New York, N.Y.: Stone & Kimball, 1896, OCLC 660486 ↗, pages 115–116 ↗:

     This pathway ran up hill, across another open space covered with white incrustation, and plunged into a canebrake again. Then suddenly it turned parallel with the edge of a steep-walled gap, which came without warning, like the ha-ha of an English park,—turned with an unexpected abruptness. I was still running with all my might, and I never saw this drop until I was flying headlong through the air.

• French: haha, saut-de-loup