Meaning of 恐怕
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- fear
- to dread
- I'm afraid that...
- perhaps
- maybe
How to use 恐怕
In modern Chinese 恐怕 is mostly used as an adverb to soften a guess or bad news, like English "I'm afraid" or "probably". It usually comes before the verb or at the start of the sentence. Example: 明天恐怕会下雨。(Míngtiān kǒngpà huì xià yǔ.) I'm afraid it will probably rain tomorrow.
Both 恐 (kǒng) and 怕 (pà) mean fear, and both contain the heart element 心 or 忄. Put two fearful hearts together and you get the polite worry of "I'm afraid that...".
Common mistake: Learners often use 恐怕 for real fear, as in 我恐怕狗, but for being scared of something you should say 我怕狗 or 我害怕狗. Also keep the tones straight: kǒng is third tone and pà is fourth tone.
恐怕 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
恐 kǒng · fearful · 10 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
怕 pà · to be afraid · 8 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
Related words
Words that share a character with 恐怕.
| 可怕 | kěpà | awful; dreadful |
| 害怕 | hàipà | to be afraid; to be scared |
| 哪怕 | nǎpà | even; even if |
| 恐怖 | kǒngbù | terrible; frightful |
| 恐惧 | kǒngjù | fear; dread; to fear; to dread |
| 恐慌 | kǒnghuāng | panic; panicky |
| 恐龙 | kǒnglóng | dinosaur (CL:頭|头[tou2],隻|只[zhi1]); (old) (slang) ugly person |
| 恐吓 | kǒnghè | to threaten; to menace |
| 生怕 | shēngpà | to fear; afraid |
| 争先恐后 | zhēngxiān-kǒnghòu | (idiom) to compete to be first; to scramble to get ahead; to rush forward for fear of fall |
| 不怕 | bùpà | fearless; not worried (by setbacks or difficulties) |
| 恐怖分子 | kǒngbùfènzǐ | terrorist |
Questions about 恐怕
What does 恐怕 mean?
恐怕 (kǒngpà) means "fear; to dread" and is used as a adverb.
How do you write 恐怕?
恐怕 is made of 2 characters: 恐 (10 strokes), 怕 (8 strokes). That is 18 strokes in total.
Is 恐怕 an HSK word?
Yes. 恐怕 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 恐怕 and 也许?
Both express a guess, but 恐怕 suggests the outcome is unwelcome or that the speaker is a bit worried. 也许 (yěxǔ) is neutral. 他恐怕不来了 sounds regretful, while 他也许不来了 is just a possibility.
Can 恐怕 be used to politely refuse something?
Yes. It is a common way to soften a refusal, for example 恐怕我今天没时间 (Kǒngpà wǒ jīntiān méi shíjiān), meaning "I'm afraid I don't have time today." It sounds gentler than a direct 不行.