吓唬
xià hu · HSK 7
to scare
👻 吓 (scare) + 唬 (bluff); both carry 口 mouth, and 唬 hides 虎 tiger
A two-character pair where both halves mean to scare, doubling the force. The right half 唬 contains 虎 (tiger) under the 口 mouth radical, fitting a loud roar meant to frighten.
吓 — mouth 口 + 赫 (hè, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 口 (mouth) signals a vocal/exclamatory meaning, while 赫 supplies the sound. Originally written as 嚇, it conveyed shouting to startle or frighten someone, later simplified to 吓. The reading xià means 'to scare,' while hè is used in exclamations.