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 (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁵thoe-theq

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
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ⁵thoe-theq
  - MiniDict: thoe^去 theh
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ²thoe-theq
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /tʰø³³ tʰəʔ⁴⁴/

Adjective

忐忑

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 (xīnshénbùdìng)
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

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

(obsolete) sincere
心心忐忑 ― xīnxīn kěngdǎo ― sincere