Dictionary › 吓

吓

xià

Old HSK 5 HSK 3.0 character level 6 Character Traditional 嚇

吓 (hè) means "(in 恐吓) to threaten; to intimidate". It is an HSK 3.0 level 6 word, and was HSK 5 in the old six-level list.

What 吓 means

1. to frighten
2. to scare

Other readings

吓 is 多音字 — it is read more than one way, and the reading changes the meaning.

• hèto scare; to intimidate; to threaten

Example sentences

• 我吓坏了。
  Wǒ xiàhuài le.
  I'm scared shitless.
• 我吓一跳。
  Wǒ xiàyītiào.
  I was shocked.
• 你在吓我。
  You're frightening me.
• 吓死我了。
  I was terrified.
• 狼吓到了我。
  Láng xià dào le wǒ.
  Wolves scare me.
• 别被吓坏了。
  Bié bèi xiàhuài le.
  Don't be terrified.

Words starting with 吓

• 吓人xià rénto scare; scary; frightening
• 吓坏xià huàito be terrified; to terrify sb
• 吓唬xià huto scare; to frighten
• 吓一跳xià yī tiàostartled; to frighten; scared out of one's skin
• 吓跑xià pǎoto scare away
• 吓倒xià dǎoto be frightened
• 吓傻xià shǎto terrify; to scare sb
• 吓疯xià fēngto be scared senseless
• 吓吓叫xià xià jiào(Taiwan) impressive (from Taiwanese 削削叫, Tai-lo pr. [siah-siah-kiò])
• 吓破胆xià pò dǎnto be scared out of one's wits; to scare stiff
• 吓昏xià hūnto faint from fear; to be frightened into fits; shell-shocked
• 吓得发抖xià dé fā dǒuto tremble with fear

Words containing 吓

• 恐吓kǒng hèto threaten; to menace
• 惊吓jīng xiàto frighten; to horrify; to terrify
• 恫吓dòng hèto intimidate; to threaten
• 威吓wēi hèto threaten; to intimidate; to cow
• 阻吓zǔ hèto deter
• 文攻武吓wén gōng wǔ hè(of a nation) to denounce and threaten with military force; to try to coerce
• 杀鸡吓猴shā jī xià hóusee 杀鸡儆猴

Characters that look like 吓

Easy to confuse on sight. Compare them side by side once and the pair stops costing you.

• 吖ā(used in transliterating chemical names)

Sounds the same

Read xià, tone for tone, but written differently.

• 下down; downwards; below
• 夏summer
• 罅crack; grudge
• 丅old variant of 下
• 夓old variant of 夏
• 厦abbr. for Xiamen or Amoy 厦门

Where 吓 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of Encountering & Physical Contact (HSK 5), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 5 word, with the rest of its level.
• How characters are built from components.
• How to learn Chinese characters.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read xià correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.