怂 (sóng): cowardly, spineless, variant of 㞞|𪨊

怂 (sóng) is a Chinese character meaning “cowardly.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 从 (phonetic) and 心 (semantic). It ranks #3036 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 怂 heart. Its radical form 心 (heart) appears in many related characters such as 心 (xīn, heart, mind), 爱 (ài, to love), 思 (sī, to think, thought).

Spoken pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 心 heart8 strokesFrequency #3036从 phonetic 心 semantic

Definitions

cowardly
spineless
variant of 㞞|𪨊

Etymology & Origin

怂

pictophoneticheart

Decomposition: ⿱从心 (layout: top-bottom)

Components:从phonetic 心semantic

Stroke Order

Practice writing 怂 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
怂恿verb	sǒng yǒng	to instigate
认怂verb	rèn sóng	(coll.) to back down

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

怂 appears in 2 compound words: 50 as the first character, 50 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 怂 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

恿yǒng

0.863800 co-occurrences

下xià

0.329208 co-occurrences

张zhāng

0.31736 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

虽然失败了，但他怂不气馁，继续努力。

suī rán shī bài le , dàn tā sóng bù qì něi , jì xù nǔ lì .

Although he failed, he didn't lose heart and kept trying.

少数派Jul 2026

好在桂总没骑过马，在我的怂恿下花费 80 元骑了“人生首马”。

hǎo zài guì zǒng méi qí guò mǎ , zài wǒ de sóng yǒng xià huā fèi 8 0 yuán qí le rén shēng shǒu mǎ .

Fortunately, General Manager Gui had never ridden a horse before, so at my urging, he spent 80 yuan on his “first-ever horseback ride.”

少数派Jul 2026

一次偶然的聊天，朋友说她平时特别怂，于是就在自己的日记本里写别人的坏话。

yī cì ǒu rán de liáo tiān , péng yǒu shuō tā píng shí tè bié sóng , yú shì jiù zài zì jǐ de rì jì běn lǐ xiě bié rén de huài huà .

During a casual conversation, a friend mentioned that she’s usually really timid, so she writes bad things about others in her diary.

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Mar 2026

【时政春秋】伊朗认怂开启谈判石油炒家大亏

shí zhèng chūn qiū yī lǎng rèn sóng kāi qǐ tán pàn shí yóu chǎo jiā dà kuī

[Current Affairs Chronicle] Iran Backtracks and Opens Negotiations; Oil Speculators Suffer Heavy Losses

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 心 (heart) component

想xiǎng 意yì 怎zěn 德dé 愿yuàn 态tài 急jí 恶è 恐kǒng 忘wàng

Related Characters

心xīn 爱ài 思sī 志zhì 念niàn 总zǒng 忘wàng 意yì 愿yuàn 感gǎn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 怂 (sóng) mean in Chinese?

怂 (sóng) primarily means "cowardly." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #3036 in character frequency.

What's the difference between 怂 and 纵?

怂 (sóng) and 纵 (zòng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 心 vs 纟 (same 从 component).

How many strokes does 怂 have?

怂 is written with 8 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.

What is the radical of 怂?

The radical associated with 怂 is 心 (heart). This radical appears in many characters related to heart.

What are the components of 怂?

怂 is composed of: 从 (phonetic), 心 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱从心 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 怂?

Common words with 怂 include: 怂恿 (sǒng yǒng, "to instigate"); 认怂 (rèn sóng, "(coll.) to back down"). There are over 2 compound words containing this character.

Is 怂 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 怂 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 怂 with real-time feedback

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