恐(おそ)る

A literary verb meaning "to fear," the classical form of 恐(おそ)れる. Only a few of its classical forms survive, in set expressions such as 恐(おそ)るべき 'formidable', 恐(おそ)るに足(た)りない 'nothing to fear' and 恐(おそ)る恐(おそ)る. It has no modern paradigm of its own, so this entry has no conjugation table.

Transitivity

• Type: 他動詞(たどうし) (transitive)
• No standard transitive pair
• Pattern: [noun]を恐(おそ)る (literary)

Forms

• 恐(おそ)る: classical form (literary; fixed expressions only)
• 恐(おそ)れる: ichidan form (standard modern usage)

Common expressions

• 恐(おそ)れ入(い)ります: I'm sorry to trouble you (very polite, used in business/service)
• 恐(おそ)る恐(おそ)る: timidly, gingerly (reduplication)
• 恐(おそ)らく: probably, perhaps (adverb from an old form of this verb)

COMMON PATTERNS (using 恐(おそ)れる):

• 失敗(しっぱい)を恐(おそ)れる: to fear failure
• 恐(おそ)れることはない: there's nothing to fear

Related words

• 恐(おそ)れ: fear (noun)
• 恐(おそ)ろしい: frightening, terrible (adjective)
• 怖(こわ)い: scary (more colloquial)