Shēngpà is an adverbial phrase meaning 'dread that...' or 'be terribly afraid that...', used to express intense, often irrational fear about a possible negative outcome. Though it contains the characters shēng (literally 'born' or 'extremely') and pà ('to fear'), together they form an idiomatic expression where shēng intensifies pà — not 'born fear', but rather 'fear so strong it feels innate'. It typically introduces a clause expressing what the speaker is anxious might happen.

This word appears frequently in spoken and written Chinese when describing protective, cautious, or overanxious behavior — for example, a parent worrying their child will get sick, or someone hesitating to speak up for fear of offending. It carries a subtle nuance of emotional vulnerability and sometimes gentle self-mockery. Shēngpà is more literary and expressive than simple pà, and is never used as a standalone predicate verb — it always modifies a following clause beginning with 'that' (often implied, not marked by a conjunction like yǐwéi or kǒngpà).