懾
shè

afraid

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 聶 represents the sound.

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

聶
聶 Sound component
whisper

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyep[t.n][e]pto fear
Zhengzhangʔnjeb
Unicodejiɛp

說文解字

失气也。从心聶聲。一曰服也。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

慑 shè afraid Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 聂 represents the sound. Simplified form of 懾.

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

聂
聂 Sound component
niè, zhé, shè whisper

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode