怖
怖 — Dreadful
dreadful, be frightened, fearful
On’yomiフ (fu)
On’yomiホ (ho)
Kun’yomiこわい (kowai)
Kun’yomiこわがる (kowagaru)
Kun’yomiおじる (ojiru)
Kun’yomiおそれる (osoreru)
Stroke order (8 strokes)
Watch the strokes draw themselves in the correct order — numbers mark where each stroke starts. Diagram from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA).
Common words using 怖
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 恐怖 | きょうふ kyoufu | fear; dread; dismay |
| 怖い | こわい kowai | scary; frightening; eerie |
| 怖がる | こわがる kowagaru | to be afraid (of); to fear; to be frightened (of) |
| 恐怖症 | きょうふしょう kyoufushou | phobia; morbid fear |
| 畏怖 | いふ ifu | awe; fear; dread |
Study notes
怖 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 8 strokes. It is taught at secondary-school level in Japan. Ranked #1325 of the 2,500 most frequent kanji in newspapers. On’yomi (音読み) are Chinese-derived readings mostly used in compound words; kun’yomi (訓読み) are native Japanese readings, with any highlighted part written in hiragana after the kanji (okurigana).
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