How to say "mockery" in Japanese

• 愚弄ぐろうCommon
  noun, suru verb, transitive verbCovers mockery as the act itself: ridiculing or deriding someone. The common word of the three, and the usual choice when 'mockery' means the mocking rather than the person mocked.
  貧まずしい人ひとを愚弄ぐろうしてはいけない。↗

  You should not fool with poor people.
• 嘲弄ちょうろう
  noun, suru verb, transitive verbAlso mockery as an act, with scorn uppermost among its senses: ridicule that looks down on its target. A less common alternative to 愚弄 when you want that scornful edge explicit.
• 嬲り者なぶりもの
  nounNot the act of mocking but the person mocked: an object of ridicule, a laughingstock or butt of jokes. For 'mockery' as the act, this is not the word you want.

For mockery as the act of ridiculing someone, use 愚弄, the common word, or 嘲弄, a less common alternative with scorn at its core; 「嬲り者」 names the person mocked—the laughingstock—not the act.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 愚弄ぐろうmockery
• 嘲弄ちょうろうscorn
• 嬲り者なぶりものobject of ridicule