忐忑

Chinese

Glyph origin

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) , from 上 (“up”), 下 (“down”) and 心 (“heart”).

Etymology 1

		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

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): tǎntè

  (Zhuyin): ㄊㄢˇ ㄊㄜˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): taan² tik¹
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): thám-thek / thám-thiak
• Wu (Wugniu)
  • (Northern): ⁵thoe-theq

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: tǎntè
    • Zhuyin: ㄊㄢˇ ㄊㄜˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: tǎntè
    • Wade–Giles: tʻan³-tʻê⁴
    • Yale: tǎn-tè
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: taanteh
    • Palladius: таньтэ (tanʹtɛ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰän²¹⁴⁻²¹ tʰɤ⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: taan² tik¹
    • Yale: táan tīk
    • Cantonese Pinyin: taan² tik⁷
    • Guangdong Romanization: tan² tig¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰaːn³⁵ tʰɪk̚⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: thám-thek
    • Tâi-lô: thám-thik
    • Phofsit Daibuun: tafmteg
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /tʰam⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ tʰiɪk̚³²/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei): /tʰam⁵³⁻⁴⁴ tʰiɪk̚³²/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: thám-thiak
    • Tâi-lô: thám-thiak
    • Phofsit Daibuun: tafmtiag
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /tʰam⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ tʰiak̚⁵/
• Wu
  • (Shanghai):
    • Wugniu: ⁵thoe-theq
    • MiniDict: thoe^去 theh
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ²thoe-theq
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /tʰø³³ tʰəʔ⁴⁴/

Adjective

忐忑

1. 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

• 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)		忐	忑

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): kěngdǎo

  (Zhuyin): ㄎㄥˇ ㄉㄠˇ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: kěngdǎo [Phonetic: kéngdǎo]
    • Zhuyin: ㄎㄥˇ ㄉㄠˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: kěngdǎo
    • Wade–Giles: kʻêng³-tao³
    • Yale: kěng-dǎu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: keengdao
    • Palladius: кэндао (kɛndao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰɤŋ²¹⁴⁻³⁵ tɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/

Adjective

忐忑

1. (obsolete) sincere

   心心忐忑  ―  xīnxīn kěngdǎo  ―  sincere