The Chinese word 惧怕 (jùpà), meaning "to fear" or "to dread", is formed through a common lexical process called synonymous compounding, where two characters with similar meanings are combined to create a single, more emphatic or formal dual-syllable word. The first character, 惧 (jù), by itself means "to fear" or "be afraid", while the second, 怕 (pà), also independently means "to fear" or "to be scared of". By pairing these two semantically related morphemes, the compound reinforces and slightly intensifies the core concept of fear, and such disyllabic constructions are standard in modern Mandarin to enhance rhythmic balance and lexical clarity.