吓人 (xià rén) — scary, frightening

Definition

Colloquial for 'scary / frightening,' used for everyday things (a place, a movie, a sound). Stronger than 可怕; 恐怖 is more formal and intense, like 'terrifying.'

adjective
scaryfrightening

Examples

  • 吓人。
    Nà ge dì fāng hěn xià rén.
    That place is very scary.
  • 吓人。
    Zhè bù diàn yǐng tài xià rén le.
    This movie is too scary.
  • 吓人。
    Zhè ge shēng yīn tīng qǐ lái hěn xià rén.
    This sound sounds very scary.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

吓xiàscare
人rénperson

When something 吓 a 人, it is frightening.

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
口口kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
下
下xià吓hè
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.

Open 吓 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Emotions & Feelings5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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