恐

fear; dread; awe; overwhelmed (e.g., with gratitude); probably

Kanji 1167

Discover the link between courtesy and extortion. Learn to talk about widespread panic, formidable talent, and possible accidents. Find out how to make requests sound timid, not pushy. See how one term means everything from “Sorry, but can you ...” to “I'm impressed!” to “Thank you”! And learn about the 恐 associated with dinosaurs, moas, おそらく, and かしこ (in women’s letters).

Revision history:

Dec. 20, 2021: p. 12 sidebar: Revised the last paragraph.

Mar. 13, 2021: 

• p. 2: Added the new Henshall etymology.
• p. 3: In the landlord sentence, fixed the readings of both 市場 and 土地所有者.
• p. 16: Added a link to the Kanshudo games.

Aug. 28, 2015: On p. 2, I added that 2 terms are rarely used today.

Mar. 6, 2015: In 私たちは生命の危険を失う恐れがあった on p. 8, I deleted の危険, as that part made for a nonsensical sentence.

Feb. 20, 2015: Changed this bit of p. 8:

恐れ or 畏れ or 虞 or 怖れ (おそれ: fear; risk; horror; anxiety; concern; uneasiness)

There should not have been a れ after the 虞, so I removed it. It's an unexpected inconsistency among the おそれ words!

Mar. 28, 2014: Originally published.