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怕 — to be afraid; to fear; to dread

to be afraid; to fear; to dread; to be unable to endure; perhaps

Pinyin
pà · Pà
Strokes
8
HSK level
HSK 3
Handwriting
required

This character has more than one reading — pà, Pà — and the pronunciation depends on the word it appears in. The list below gives the syllabus reading for each word.

How to write 怕: 8 strokes

Each cell adds one stroke to the previous ones, with the new stroke in red. Stroke order is not decoration: it sets the proportions of the character and makes handwriting legible to a reader. This character is on the HSK handwriting list, so the exam expects you to write it, not only recognise it.

怕 — 8 strokes, in writing order from left to right.

Build a printable practice sheet with 怕

Words with 怕 in the HSK syllabus: 6

Every word in the official 2026 syllabus that contains this character, with the level it is introduced at. Learning a character pays off through these: each one combines with the characters you already know.

  1. 害怕hàipàto be afraid; to be scaredHSK 3
  2. 怕pàto be afraid; to fear; to dreadHSK 3
  3. 恐怕kǒngpàfear; to dread; I'm afraid that...; perhaps; maybeHSK 4
  4. 可怕kěpàawful; dreadful; fearful; formidable; frightfulHSK 5
  5. 哪怕nǎpàeven; even if; even though; no matter howHSK 5
  6. 生怕shēngpàto fear; afraid; extremely nervous; for fear thatHSK 7–9

Glosses come from CC-CEDICT, used under CC BY-SA 4.0, and are the dictionary’s first sense rather than a translation chosen for context.