胆寒 (dǎn hán) — to be terrified, to lose one's nerve

Definition

A literary verb meaning to be terrified or to lose one's nerve — stronger and more written than everyday words like 害怕. 胆 refers to courage here, so 胆寒 literally suggests one's gall bladder running cold.

verb
to be terrifiedto lose one's nerve

Examples

  • ，胆寒。
    Kàn dào nà ge kǒng bù de chǎng miàn, tā bù jīn gǎn dào dǎn hán.
    Seeing that horrifying scene, he couldn't help but feel terrified.
  • ，胆寒。
    Jí shǐ shì zuì yǒng gǎn de rén, miàn duì zhè zhǒng shì yě huì dǎn hán.
    Even the bravest person would be terrified facing something like this.
  • 胆寒，。
    Tā yì xiǎng dào yào shàng tái yǎn jiǎng jiù dǎn hán, shǒu xīn zhí mào hàn.
    She gets terrified just thinking about giving a speech on stage, with her palms sweating.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

胆dǎngallbladder
寒háncold

胆 is the gallbladder, and 寒 is cold, so the gall feels cold and one loses nerve.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
⺼Written in full as肉ròubody part
Sound part声符shēngfú
旦
旦dàn胆dǎn
Same sound today

胆 combines ⺼, written as 肉 when full, for a body part, with 旦 as a sound part.

Open 胆 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 宀宀miánhouse
  • 人人rénperson
  • 茻茻mǎnggrass

寒 shows 宀 (house), 人 (person), and 茻 (grass): a person sleeping in grass inside a house to keep out the cold.

Open 寒 →

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