The paper takeYunnan laterite as the object, soil-water characteristics under wet-dry cycle by the pressure plate method were explored, meanwhile, factors such as initial dry density(1.20, 1.25 and 1.30 g/cm³), initial moisture content(30.0%, 33.0% and 36.0%), pre-consolidation pressure(0, 50, 100 and 200 kPa), and particle size(0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mm)were taken into considrearion. The results showed that laterite's matric suction decreased with increasing moisture content during the wet-dry cycle, and the soil-water characteristic curve was "inverted J". The soil-water characteristic curve could be divided into three stages, which included rapid dehydration, slow dehydration, and stable dehydration, and the corresponding moisture absorption process could also be divided into three stages:rapid moisture absorption, slow moisture absorption, and stable moisture absorption. Under the same matrix suction, laterite moisture content increased with the increase of initial dry density, initial moisture content and pre-consolidation pressure, while laterite moisture content decreased with the increase of particle size. Laterite soil-water characteristic curve could be fitted by power function, while initial dry density, pre-consolidation pressure, particle size (except 0.5 mm), and soil-water characteristic curve could be fitted with a linear function. The moisture content of the laterite dehumidification process was higher than that of the moisture absorption process. There was a hysteresis in the soil-water characteristic curve during the process of moisture removal and moisture absorption. It was ascribed to the effects of pore size, bottle neck, contact angle and cyclic expansion and shrinkage of laterite under wet and dry cycles.