怕 (pà) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

怕

pà[pa4]Tone 4

to fear

HSK 2

Guru Deep Dive

English · to fear

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:8

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (vertical heart) should be slender and compressed on the left side, while the right component (bái) takes up more width and structural weight to keep the character balanced.

1. Meaning

to be afraid

to fearto dreadto be unable to endureperhapssurname Pa

VerbNeutral#emotion#psychology#fear

Sample Usage

你怕不怕黑？
nǐ pà bú pà hēi?
Are you afraid of the dark or not?
我怕他不会来。
wǒ pà tā bú huì lái.
I'm afraid he might not come.

2. Sound

/[pʰa˥˩]/Tone: 51

怕

pàpa4

`(51)

=pà

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Bilabial

Sounds like: p sound in English 'pat'

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Strong puff of air! A tissue held before lips MUST fly forward.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Lips pressed together firmly, then released with a strong burst of breath.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: ah sound in English 'father'

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ah'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and plunges sharply to the bottom, similar to saying a firm 'No!' or 'Down!' in English.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the 4th tone (pà - falling) with the 1st tone (pā) or 2nd tone (pá). Be careful not to let the voice rise at the end.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, decisive downward chop with your hand, mirroring a stern command or a quick drop from a high cliff.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 8 strokes

4. Components

Radical 忄 · Vertical Heart Radical (emotions, heart, psychological states)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 忄 (indicates that the meaning relates to an emotion or feeling (fear))

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 白 (original sound: bái / pá)

The vertical heart (忄) meets the character for white (白). When you are terribly afraid, your heart (忄) turns completely white (白) and drained of all color!

忄 heart / emotion
白 white / phonetic clue

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

13· Phonetic Root: 白 (bái)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the vertical heart radical (忄) representing emotional states and (白) providing the phonetic sound. Over time, the emotion of terror became associated with the face turning white from fright.

Semantic Evolution: Originally signifying fright or trepidation, it expanded to mean dreading something, being unable to bear an outcome, and even expressing probability ('perhaps').

The vertical heart radical is an alternate form of 心 (xīn) used exclusively on the left side of Chinese characters.
In classical texts, it frequently appeared in contexts describing awe, terror, or submission.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

bạ

Sino-Vietnamese reading bạ corresponds to falling tone patterns.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ハク

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

When you are so afraid (pà) of a ghost, your heart (忄) goes completely white (白) with terror!

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

柏

bǎicypress treeUses tree radical (木) + white (白).

拍

pāito clap / to patUses hand radical (扌) + white (白).

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

白(bái)

白 means 'white' by itself without the emotional heart radical (忄) on the left.

帕(pà)

帕 means 'handkerchief' and uses the cloth radical (巾) instead of the heart radical (忄).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

小孩子晚上独自睡觉时都会[___]黑。

Clue: pà

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the tone and pronouncing it as pá (2nd tone) instead of the sharp falling 4th tone pà.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does the character 怕 mean and what is its Pinyin with tone?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to fear/afraid' (pà) using the heart radical and the white component?

怕pàto fear

Speed:

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