HSK 6 · Emotions

恐惧 kǒngjù “fear” in Chinese

Traditional 恐懼

What 恐惧 means

  1. fear
  2. dread
  3. phobia

How to say 恐惧

  • 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惧jù4th tone, falling

恐惧 in a sentence

  1. 他们可以克服恐惧。

    Tāmen kěyǐ kèfú kǒngjù.

    They can conquer their fear.

    Sentence #334641 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我不想在恐惧中生活。

    Wǒ bù xiǎng zài kǒngjù zhōng shēnghuó.

    I don’t want to live in fear.

    Sentence #2037323 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 恐惧很快变成愤怒。

    Kǒngjù hěn kuài biànchéng fènnù.

    Fear quickly turned into anger.

    Sentence #5949245 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 恐惧 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 惧 (jù) with each of its parts in a different colour
惧jùto fear
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīnMeaning part
  • 具tool · jùSound part

忄 hints at the meaning (heart); 具 (jù) hints at the sound. Compare it with jù.

How to write 恐惧

恐 10 strokes · 惧 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 恐惧

Words with 恐

恐怕kǒngpà · I’m afraid (that)恐吓kǒnghè · to threaten恐怖kǒngbù · terror争先恐后zhēngxiānkǒnghòu · to compete eagerly

Words with 惧

畏惧wèijù · to fear

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

渴望kěwàng · to long for可恶kěwù · hateful克制kèzhì · to restrain恐怖kǒngbù · terror空虚kōngxū · empty快活kuàihuo · happy哭泣kūqì · to weep苦涩kǔsè · bitter

FAQs

恐惧 (kǒngjù) means “fear” or “dread”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it kǒngjù: kǒng with a 3rd tone, then jù 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, 恐惧 is written 恐懼. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type kongju with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 恐惧 from the suggestions. Typing kongju into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
恐惧 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.