吓倒 (xià dǎo) — to be terrified; to be so frightened that one c… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

吓倒 is a resultative verb: scaring so severely that someone collapses or is paralyzed with fear. Stronger than 吓 (xià), which is just 'to frighten' without the collapse result.

verb

to be terrifiedto be so frightened that one collapses(causative) to scare (someone) into collapsing or being terrified

Examples

吓倒。
Nà ge kǒng bù piàn bǎ wǒ xià dǎo le.
That horror movie scared me so much I almost collapsed.
吓倒。
Tā bèi zhè ge tū rú qí lái de xiāo xi xià dǎo le.
He was terrified by this sudden news.
，吓倒。
Bié zài shuō guǐ gù shi le, nǐ huì bǎ dì di xià dǎo de.
Stop telling ghost stories; you'll scare your little brother to death.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

'吓' means to scare, '倒' adds the result of collapsing, giving scared so much one falls.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

口下吓

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

下

Same sound today

吓 is built from 口 (mouth) and 下, which gives the sound; the mouth part marks a meaning connected with the mouth.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

亻到倒

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rén

Sound part声符shēngfú

到

到dào倒dào

Same sound today

倒 combines 亻 (person) with 到, which gives the sound.

Appears in

Emotions & Feelings

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