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Kanji for Fear
The kanji most commonly used for "Fear" are 恐、怖、畏.
恐
Kanji that mean Fear
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恐
to fear, frightening
Also associated with to threaten.
Onyomi: kyoh Kunyomi: kowa.garu, kowa.i, oso.reru, oso.roshii, oso.ru 10 strokes Jōyō
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怖
fearful, frightened
Also associated with apprehensive.
Onyomi: fu, ho Kunyomi: kowa.garu, kowa.i, o.jiru, oso.reru 8 strokes Jōyō
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畏
awe, respect, fear
Onyomi: i Kunyomi: kashiko, kashiko.shi, kashikoma.ru, oso.reru 9 strokes Jōyō
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惧
fear, anxiety
Also associated with alarm.
Onyomi: gu, ku Kunyomi: oso.reru 11 strokes Jōyō
恐 (kyō) and 怖 (fu) together make 恐怖 — fear, terror — and they split the work between them. 恐 is fear as apprehension of something large: 恐竜, the dinosaur, is literally the “fearsome dragon”, and 恐れる is to fear or to dread. 怖 is fear as felt — 怖い is the everyday word for “scary”.
畏 (i) is the interesting one: fear mixed with reverence — awe. 畏敬 is reverent awe; the biblical “fear of God” is translated with this character, and it names the feeling before a mountain or a master rather than a monster.
惧 appears in 危惧 — apprehension, misgiving — worry that something may go wrong. And 慄 is the shudder itself: 戦慄, the thrill of horror. One English word; five distinct temperatures of it.
A warning from this dictionary’s own history: 臆 sits near “fear” in glossaries, but it means timidity — a character for cowardice, not for facing fear.
Words using Fear kanji
Everyday Japanese vocabulary built from the characters above.
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恐怖
きょうふ
fear; dread; dismay
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畏まりました
かしこまりました
certainly!; very well; with pleasure
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危惧
きぐ
apprehension; misgivings; uneasiness
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恐竜
きょうりゅう
dinosaur
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怖い
こわい
scary; frightening; eerie
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恐喝
きょうかつ
blackmail; extortion; threat (to extort money)
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怖がる
こわがる
to be afraid (of); to fear; to be frightened (of)
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恐らく
おそらく
probably; (most) likely; in all likelihood
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恐慌
きょうこう
panic; scare; alarm
Before you use Fear kanji
As a tattoo, plain fear is rarely what people mean. 畏 — awe, fear that bows — is the character with dignity, and 畏敬 makes it explicit. Avoid 臆 (timidity) entirely, and know that 恐 or 怖 alone read as "scary" rather than "fearless"; if you mean the conquest of fear, 無畏 ("without fear", a Buddhist term) says that.