About
Composed of the mouth radical "口" and the character for tiger "虎", the graph "唬" originally denoted the roar or threatening sound of a tiger, directly deriving from its pictorial components. Etymologically, this construction emphasizes vocal intimidation, leveraging the tiger's symbolic ferocity. Over time, its meaning extended from animal vocalizations to human actions, specifically describing the act of bluffing or frightening someone through words or false threats. This semantic shift allowed "唬" to become consistently used in compounds and phrases that involve coercion or deception, maintaining its structural integrity while adapting to broader communicative contexts.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
你别吓唬小孩子。
他喜欢吓唬别人。
你别用鬼故事唬我。
这种话唬不了我。
他试图唬住我们，但我们不怕。
他的威胁只是唬人的把戏。
昨天他唬我说考试很难。
尽管他竭力唬我们，我们却毫不动摇。