Emaki · all 1,500 words

恐ろしい

おそろしい

terrible, frightening

Mnemonic

Whatever it was in the dream, it was still in the room when you woke and the light had to go on. The same oh おそ, sore ろし as 恐れる, except worse. Not startling: the other kind: おそろしい.

Worth knowing

Shares 恐 with 恐怖 きょうふ, fear. 恐怖 is what you feel and 恐ろしい is what the thing is.

Built from

fear
心 a heart at the bottom with a pair of hands gripping something above it. The grip is the fear.

Words sharing these kanji

fear probably (usually negative), I'm afraid ... to fear, to apprehend

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Emaki is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Kaishi 1.5k or its authors. The word, reading and meaning come from the Kaishi 1.5k deck, used with their permission. The mnemonic, the note and the kanji breakdown are original work, published under CC BY-SA 4.0.