• 怖こわい — scary; frightening
• 怖こわがる — to be afraid of; to fear
• 恐怖きょうふ — terror; fear
• 恐怖心きょうふしん — feeling of fear
• 恐怖症きょうふしょう — phobia
• 怖気おじけづく — to lose one’s nerve; to get cold feet

Left side 忄 is the “heart / feelings” radical. The right side is 布ぬの (cloth) as a phonetic, giving the sound フ. Put together, it paints the idea of a heart that tightens up — the feeling of **fear**. Words like 恐怖きょうふ show how 怖 pairs with 恐 to express stronger terror.

Think of 気 as your inner air or mood. When you suddenly get scared, that “air” collapses — you おじける（怖気おじけづく）. With 忄 on the left (the heart), 怖 captures that instant when your heart loses its nerve. A small shadow, a loud noise — your 気 shrinks and you go, “ちょっとこわい…”. That gut feeling is exactly 怖.