Meaning & readings

disconcerted, be confused, lose one's head

On’yomi コウ
Kun’yomi あわ.てる、あわ.ただしい

Origin

This character combines the heart radical on the left, which signals an emotion or state of mind, with the component on the right, which serves as a sound hint for pronunciation. The character literally depicts a state of the heart or mind — specifically the mental confusion and loss of composure that comes with panic or alarm. The pairing of the emotional radical with this particular sound component created a kanji that captures the feeling of being flustered and disconcerted.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).

12 strokes

Components

  • radical left
  • sound hint right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 恐慌 きょうこう panic; scare
  • 慌てる あわてる to become confused (disconcerted, disorganized, disorganised); to be flustered
  • 慌ただしい あわただしい busy; hectic

Reference

Strokes
12
Kangxi radical
61
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#1826 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+0614C