HSK 5 · Adjectives

可怕 kěpà “awful” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 可怕 means

  1. awful
  2. dreadful
  3. fearful
  4. formidable
  5. frightful
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • scary

How to say 可怕

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale可kě3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale怕pà4th tone, falling

可怕 in a sentence

  1. 太可怕了。

    Tài kěpà le.

    How awful!

    Sentence #5102161 from Tatoeba

  2. 这是一个可怕的错误。

    Zhè shì yí ge kěpà de cuòwù.

    This is a terrible mistake.

    Sentence #8649707 from Tatoeba

  3. 昨晚我做了一个可怕的噩梦。

    Zuówǎn wǒ zuò le yí ge kěpà de èmèng.

    I had a terrible nightmare last night.

    Sentence #4970087 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 可怕 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 可 (kě) with each of its parts in a different colour
可kěcan; may; able to; -able
  • 丁part of the characterMeaning part
  • 口mouth · kǒuSound part

Memory aidPicture a mouth 口 saying yes: can, may.

The character 怕 (pà) with each of its parts in a different colour
怕pàto be afraid
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīnMeaning part
  • 白white · báiSound part

忄 hints at the meaning (heart); 白 (bái) hints at the sound. Compare it with pà.

How to write 可怕

可 5 strokes · 怕 8 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

可怕 (kěpà) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 可怕 (kěpà). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 可怕

Words with 可

可以kěyǐ · can可能kěnéng · maybe可kě · but可爱kě'ài · cute可怜kělián · pitiful可惜kěxī · it is a pity可是kěshì · but可靠kěkào · reliable可见kějiàn · it can clearly be seen (that this is the case)宁可nìngkě · preferably

Words with 怕

怕pà · to fear害怕hàipà · afraid of恐怕kǒngpà · I’m afraid (that)哪怕nǎpà · even

More words: Adjectives

具体jùtǐ · specific绝对juéduì · absolute均匀jūnyún · even可靠kěkào · reliable刻苦kèkǔ · hardworking客观kèguān · objective烂làn · rotten老实lǎoshi · honest

FAQs

可怕 (kěpà) means “awful” or “dreadful”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it kěpà: kě with a 3rd tone, then pà with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 可怕 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type kepa with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 可怕 from the suggestions. Typing kepa into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
可怕 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.