驚 means “surprise, astonish”

おどろ · odoro

Also: wonder, be surprised, frightened, amazed

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

おどろく, おどろかす

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

キョウ

Taught in secondary school · 22 strokes

The story

A horse rears up in alarm: surprise is the moment the world shifts beneath you, wild and uncontainable.

Used in 驚く (odoroku, to be surprised) and 驚き (odoroki, amazement)

More from Feelings & Emotions

• 寂 lonely
• 優 gentle
• 思 think
• 感 feel
• 懐 nostalgic
• 悲 sad
• 怒 anger
• 泣 cry
• 笑 laugh
• 好 like
• 痛 pain
• 幸 happiness

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

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