Chinese symbol for “frighten”
吓
xià
Traditional: 嚇
to frighten; to scare
The closest CC-CEDICT match for frighten is 吓 (xià), defined as: to frighten; to scare.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “frighten”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 惊吓 (驚嚇) | jīng xià | to frighten; to horrify |
| 恫 | dòng | frighten |
| 吓唬 (嚇唬) | xià hu | to scare; to frighten |
| 吓一跳 (嚇一跳) | xià yī tiào | startled; to frighten |
| 慑 (懾) | shè | (bound form) to fear; to be cowed; (bound form) to frighten; to intimidate |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 吓.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 恐吓 (恐嚇) | kǒng hè | to threaten; to menace |
| 吓坏 (嚇壞) | xià huài | to be terrified; to terrify sb |
| 吓人 (嚇人) | xià rén | to scare; scary |
| 惊吓 (驚嚇) | jīng xià | to frighten; to horrify |
| 吓唬 (嚇唬) | xià hu | to scare; to frighten |
| 吓倒 (嚇倒) | xià dǎo | to be frightened |
See also: Japanese symbol for “frighten”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.