忐忑

Chinese

Glyph origin

Ideogrammic compound (會意会意) , from (“up”), (“down”) and (“heart”).

Etymology 1

phonetic
simp. and trad.
(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   tǎntè'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)

(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
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