HSK 6 · Verbs

恐吓 kǒnghè “to threaten” in Chinese

Traditional 恐嚇

What 恐吓 means

  1. to threaten
  2. to intimidate
  3. to menace

How to say 恐吓

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale恐kǒng3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale吓hè4th tone, falling

恐吓 in a sentence

  1. 市长一家人一整天不断遭到了恐吓电话的骚扰。

    Shìzhǎng yì jiā rén yì zhěngtiān búduàn zāodào le kǒnghè diànhuà de sāorǎo.

    The mayor’s family was harassed by threatening phone calls all day long.

    Sentence #470266 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 恐吓 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 恐 (kǒng) with each of its parts in a different colour
恐kǒngafraid
  • 巩to bind · gǒngSound part
  • 心heart · xīnMeaning part

心 hints at the meaning (heart); 巩 (gǒng) hints at the sound. Compare it with kǒng.

The character 吓 (xià) with each of its parts in a different colour
吓hèto scare
  • 口mouth · kǒuMeaning part
  • 下below · xiàSound part

口 hints at the meaning (mouth); 下 (xià) hints at the sound. Compare it with hè.

How to write 恐吓

恐 10 strokes · 吓 6 strokes

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

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

Words related to 恐吓

Words with 恐

恐怕kǒngpà · I’m afraid (that)恐怖kǒngbù · terror恐惧kǒngjù · fear争先恐后zhēngxiānkǒnghòu · to compete eagerly

Words with 吓

吓xià · to frighten

More words: Thinking & Talking

记载jìzǎi · to record聚精会神jùjīnghuìshén · to concentrate fully看待kàndài · to regard侃侃而谈kǎnkǎn'értán · to speak with ease and confidence空想kōngxiǎng · fantasy口气kǒuqì · tone of voice口头kǒutóu · oral口音kǒuyīn · accent

FAQs

恐吓 (kǒnghè) means “to threaten” or “to intimidate”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it kǒnghè: kǒng with a 3rd tone, then hè with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 恐吓 is written 恐嚇. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type konghe with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 恐吓 from the suggestions. Typing konghe into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
恐吓 is an HSK 6 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.