tik1忑
Jyutpingtik1
Yaletīk
Definition
Nervous, timid, or uneasy.
colloquialemotion
How it's used
Used almost exclusively in the reduplicated form 忐忑 to describe a state of anxiety or inner turmoil. While 忑 can appear alone in some contexts, it sounds incomplete or overly literary to most native speakers. It is best to treat it as a component of a two-character word rather than a standalone adjective.
Examples
Why are you being so timid?
Related words
Common phrases
feeling uneasy and restless
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with 忐, which is the first half of the common compound. Using 忑 by itself often sounds unnatural or like a typo for the full 忐忑.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- In 30 secondsThe whole language at a glance. No tenses, no plurals, six tones, sentence particles. Read this before you dive into any specific topic.
- ParticlesSentence particles add tone, emotion, and nuance. Learn the most common particles in Cantonese and how to use them.
- Possession (嘅)How to say my, your, and his, and how to link a describing word to a noun, all with the little word 嘅 (ge3).
