忐忑
Chinese edit
Glyph origin edit
Ideogrammic compound (會意/会意) , from 上 (“up”), 下 (“down”) and 心 (“heart”).
Etymology 1 edit
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 edit
Adjective edit
忐忑
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
- → Middle Korean: 탐탁〮 (thàmthák)
Etymology 2 edit
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 edit
Adjective edit
忐忑