In Classical Chinese, 恐 often means “I fear that…” used to introduce a cautious supposition.

Also “perhaps, probably” in classical usage.

Phono-semantic compound:
心 (심, heart, mind) – semantic component, indicating feelings.
巩 (공, to secure, to hold fast) – phonetic component.
Together: “a fearful or unsettled heart.”

恐怖 (공포) — fear, terror
恐懼 (공구) — dread, great fear
恐喝 (공할) — intimidation, threat
恐龍 (공룡) — dinosaur (“fearsome dragon”)

Characters

Words

Vocabulary

to endure, to bear, to suffer

intention, will, aspiration

loyalty, devotion, faithfullness

to think, to remember, to reflect

to get angry, to rage, anger, wrath, fury, to scold, to rebuke.

to think, to reflect, to long fo

nature, character, gender

to be afraid, to fear

fear, dread, to be afraid

constant, unchanging, lasting, to extend, to pervade

to forgive

to pity, to feel compassion, to console, to comfort, to relieve,

resentment, deep regret, rancor, to regret, to repent

grace, favor, benevolence, kindness

to breathe, to rest, to live

to repent, to regret, to feel remorse

to be sad, sorrowful, grieved

The content on this page provided under the CC BY-NC-SA license.

Chinese character

Explore 214 Chinese radicals and their derived characters. Sort by radical or stroke count, and view the complete list of official Hanja radicals.

恐

Etymology

Usage in Korean

Words that derived from 恐

Additional notes

Neighboring characters in the dictionary