慌てる
あわてる · awateru · JLPT N3 · verb-ichidan
to become confused、to panic
忄 heart + 荒 wild = a heart run wild; awa sounds like Aw, what?!
The kanji puts the heart radical 忄 next to 荒 (wild, rough), so 慌 is a heart thrown into disorder. For the sound, awateru starts like the panicked cry Aw, what?! — the thing you blurt out when you panic.
慌 — heart radical 忄 + 荒 huāng (wild)
A semantic-phonetic compound: the heart radical 忄 gives the meaning (an emotional state), while 荒 supplies the sound huāng and a hint of 'wild, barren.' Originally suggesting a heart in disarray like wasteland, it came to mean flustered, panicked, or in a hurry.