kǒng
verb #5,145

Meanings

  1. 1 afraid; to fear
  2. 2 perhaps; I'm afraid that

Examples

Kǒngpà láibùjí le.
I'm afraid there's not enough time.
Tā yǒu kǒng gāo zhèng.
He has a fear of heights.
Kǒnglóng yǐjīng mièjué le.
Dinosaurs are already extinct.

Tips

usage
is used in: 恐怕 (I'm afraid/perhaps), 恐惧 (fear), 恐怖 (terror), 恐龙 (dinosaur — lit. 'fear dragon'). 恐怕 is very common in daily speech as a polite hedge.

Components

radical
xīn
heart; mind
Heart radical at the bottom — fear and dread are matters of the heart in classical Chinese psychology. sits in the family of mental-state chars alongside (afraid), (think of), (think), (feel). Full here (not ) because the phonetic stacks above, not beside.
phonetic
gǒng
firm; secure (here phonetic)
Top supplies the sound — gǒng drifted to kǒng with the regular k/g initial alternation common in Old Chinese. itself depicts a hand -tool gripping tight, faintly reinforcing the 'gripping fear' picture — but the role here is primarily phonetic.

Stroke Order

kǒng