HSK 5 · Verbs

吓 xià “to frighten” in Chinese

Traditional 嚇

What 吓 means

  1. to frighten
  2. to scare

How to say 吓

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale吓xià4th tone, falling

吓 in a sentence

  1. 别这样吓我吧！

    Bié zhèyàng xià wǒ ba!

    Don’t scare me like that!

    Sentence #3086260 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 雷声吓到孩子了。

    Léishēng xià dào háizi le.

    The thunder frightened the children.

    Sentence #838508 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 我吓得说不出话来。

    Wǒ xià de shuō bu chū huà lái.

    I was so scared I couldn’t speak.

    Sentence #8753765 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 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 吓 (xià) with each of its parts in a different colour
吓xiàto frighten
  • 口mouth · kǒuMeaning part
  • 下below · xiàSound part

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

How to write 吓

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.

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

Words related to 吓

Words with 吓

恐吓kǒnghè · to threaten

More words: Common Verbs

限制xiànzhì · to restrict吸收xīshōu · to absorb系xì · (university) department系领带jì lǐngdài · to tie a tie显得xiǎnde · to seem显示xiǎnshì · to show相处xiāngchǔ · to get along (with someone)享受xiǎngshòu · to enjoy

FAQs

吓 (xià) means “to frighten” or “to scare”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it xià: xià 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, 吓 is written 嚇. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xia with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 吓 from the suggestions. Typing xia into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
吓 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.