怖こわがる

こ

わ

が

る

Common wordJLPTN1Freq.FrequencyTop 50,000

怖がる · godan verb (-ru)

Form	Positive	Negative
Dictionary	怖こわがる	怖こわがらない
Polite	怖こわがります	怖こわがりません
Past polite	怖こわがりました	怖こわがりませんでした
Past	怖こわがった	怖こわがらなかった
Te-form	怖こわがって	怖こわがらないで
Desire	怖こわがりたい	怖こわがりたくない
Potential	怖こわがれる	怖こわがれない
Passive	怖こわがられる	怖こわがられない
Causative	怖こわがらせる	怖こわがらせない
Causative passive	怖こわがらせられるalso 怖こわがらされる	怖こわがらせられないalso 怖こわがらされない
Volitional	怖こわがろう
Polite volitional	怖こわがりましょう
Imperative	怖こわがれ	怖こわがるな
Conditional	怖こわがれば	怖こわがらなければ
Tara conditional	怖こわがったら	怖こわがらなかったら

Meanings

godan verb (-ru), transitive verb, intransitive verb

be afraid of; fear; be scared of

Expresses visible or outward fear; often used when someone shows fear through behavior or expression. Can be used with both transitive (〜を怖がる) and intransitive patterns.

子こ供どもは暗くら闇やみを怖こわがる。
Children are afraid of the dark.
彼かの女じょは注ちゅう射しゃを怖こわがって、泣なき出だした。
She was scared of the injection and started crying.

See all 74 example sentences ›

Usage patterns

〈人ひと〉が〈物もの〉を怖こわがるfor someone to be scared of something
子こ供どもは虫むしを怖こわがる。
The child is scared of bugs.
〈人ひと〉が〈動どう詞し〉のを怖こわがるfor someone to be afraid to do something
彼かれは一人ひとりで寝ねるのを怖こわがる。
He's afraid to sleep alone.

Kanji

怖dreadful, be frightened, fearful
恐fear, dread, awe

Transitive / intransitive

怖がる can be used both transitively with を marking the thing feared (犬を怖がる, 'to be scared of dogs') and intransitively describing a general state of fear (子供が怖がっている, 'the child is scared').

Related words

恐おそれるN3
恐れる is more formal and used for deep, abstract fear (danger, consequences), while 怖がる is a casual verb describing visible, immediate fear reactions.
怯おびえるN1
怯える emphasizes trembling or cowering from fright, whereas 怖がる simply describes the state of being scared without focusing on physical trembling.
ビビる
怖がる is the standard, neutral word for feeling scared, while ビビる is slangy and often has a comical or exaggerated nuance.

Opposites

なつくN1
怖がる means to be afraid of someone, the opposite of 懐く, which means to warm up to and feel comfortable with them.

Don't confuse with

怖こわいN4
怖い is an i-adjective meaning 'scary/frightening' describing the thing itself, while 怖がる is a verb describing a person's act of showing fear.
嫌いやがるN3
怖がる and 嫌がる share the same 〜がる pattern for showing an emotion outwardly, but 怖がる is specifically about showing fear while 嫌がる is about showing dislike or reluctance.
こわばるN1
怖がる (to be scared) sounds very similar to 強張る (to stiffen) but describes an emotion rather than a physical state, though fear often causes the latter.

Written forms

怖こわがる
Standard kanji spelling; 怖 is the most common character for 'fear' in modern Japanese.
恐こわがる
Alternate kanji spelling using 恐; less common but still encountered.

Etymology

Derived from the adjective 怖い (こわい, 'scary') + the suffix がる, which attaches to adjectives to express that someone appears to feel that way.