前仰后合

qián yǎng hòu hé

to rock back and forth (with laughter)

Character by character

前qián
forward

仰yǎng
tip back

后hòu
backward

合hé
fold

他讲的笑话把全家人逗得前仰后合。

His joke had the whole family rocking with laughter.

Tone: neutral.

Almost always after 笑得 or 逗得. The body tips back (仰) and folds forward (合), over and over.

Learn this in Lesson 216 · HSK 9+: 相声：说学逗唱 (Crosstalk: the art of talking funny)

A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.