忐忑
Chinese
Glyph origin
Ideogrammic compound (會意) , from 上 (“up”), 下 (“down”) and 心 (“heart”).
Etymology 1
phonetic | |||
---|---|---|---|
simp. and trad. (忐忑) | 忐 | 忑 | |
alternative forms | 憳忒 |
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
- perturbed; nervous; uneasy; fidgety
- 忐忑不安 ― tǎntèbù'ān ― uneasy
Synonyms
- 不安 (bù'ān)
- 糾結/纠结 (jiūjié)
- 心神不定
- 坐立不安 (zuòlìbù'ān)
- 緊張/紧张 (jǐnzhāng)
Derived terms
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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
- (obsolete) sincere
- 心心忐忑 ― xīnxīn kěngdǎo ― sincere