恐 means “fear, dread, terrible”

おそろしい · osoroshii

Also: awe

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

おそれる, おそる, おそろしい, こわい, こわがる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

キョウ

JLPT N3 · Taught in secondary school · 10 strokes

The story

Picture a heart (心) pinned under a heavy tool (工), pounding hard: that is fear. 恐ろしい means terrifying, 恐怖 is terror, and 恐竜, "fearsome dragon", is the Japanese word for dinosaur.

Used in 恐ろしい (osoroshii, terrifying), 恐怖 (kyoufu, terror), and 恐竜 (kyouryuu, dinosaur)

More from How Things Feel

• 欲 want
• 疲 tired
• 忙 busy
• 偶 chance
• 偉 admirable
• 情 feelings
• 難 difficult
• 良 good
• 適 suitable
• 静 quiet
• 困 be troubled

Learn 恐 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.