忐忑

Chinese

Glyph origin

Ideogrammic compound (會意/会意) , from 上 (“up”), 下 (“down”) and 心 (“heart”).

Etymology 1

phonetic
simp. and trad.
(忐忑)
忐 忑
alternative forms 憳忒/𱞕忒

Unknown. Earliest attestation was in the Song dynasty as 憳忒 in Jiyun. It is a word where the onsets are shared between the syllables (雙聲詞), likely reduplicative and/or onomatopoeic in origin. Compare 忒忒 (tètè, “throbbing (abnormally)”) and 突突 (tūtū, “palpitating”) (Ma, 2007), as well as Vietnamese thấp thỏm, nhấp nhỏm (“uneasy, fidgety”).

Pronunciation


Adjective

忐忑

  1. perturbed; nervous; uneasy; fidgety
    忐忑不安  ―  tǎntèbù'ān  ―  uneasy
Synonyms
Derived terms
  • 心懷忐忑/心怀忐忑
  • 忐忑不安 (tǎntèbù'ān)
  • 忐忑不定
  • 忐忑不寧/忐忑不宁
  • 忐忐忑忑
Descendants
  • → Middle Korean: 탐탁〮 (thàmthák)

Etymology 2

phonetic
simp. and trad.
(忐忑)
忐 忑

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation


Adjective

忐忑

  1. (obsolete) sincere
    心心忐忑  ―  xīnxīn kěngdǎo  ―  sincere
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.