惶惶 (huáng huáng) — anxious, agitated, restless | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A bound literary/书面 form (reduplicated 惶) used in set phrases like 惶惶不安 and 人心惶惶 to mean deeply anxious and uneasy. It is more emphatic and written than the everyday 不安 alone.

bound form

anxiousagitatedrestless

Examples

惶惶，。
Tā zuì jìn zǒng shì huáng huáng bù ān, hǎo xiàng yǒu shén me xīn shì.
He has been restless lately, as if something is on his mind.
。
Zhàn zhēng de xiāo xi ràng quán chéng bǎi xìng rén xīn huáng huáng.
The news of war made the whole city's people anxious.
，惶惶。
Miàn duì kǎo shì, tā gǎn dào huáng huáng bù kě zhōng rì.
Facing the exam, he felt so anxious he couldn't get through the day.

Origin

Reduplicated word

构词法gòucífǎ

重叠chóngdiéReduplication

A syllable said twice — for affection, for softness, or simply because that is how the word is said.

惶huánganxious

惶huánganxious

The repeated 惶 stresses agitation and anxiousness.

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.

忄皇惶

Meaning part形符xíngfú

忄Written in full as心xīn

Sound part声符shēngfú

皇

皇huáng惶huáng

Same sound today

惶 uses 忄 (heart, written as 心) on the left and 皇 on the right for the sound.

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

忄皇惶

Meaning part形符xíngfú

忄Written in full as心xīn

Sound part声符shēngfú

皇

皇huáng惶huáng

Same sound today

惶 uses 忄 (heart, written as 心) on the left and 皇 on the right for the sound.

Appears in

Emotions & Feelings

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