How to Say "Heartbeat" in Chinese

心跳

xīntiào

The English word 'heartbeat' is translated into Chinese as 心跳 (xīntiào).

The term 心跳 refers to one pulsation of the heart.

Meaning: one pulsation of the heart (noun)

What does it mean word for word?

The word is composed of the character 心 (xīn) meaning 'heart' and 跳 (tiào) meaning 'jump' or 'throb'.

In the Cantonese dialect, the term for heartbeat is represented as 心跳 (sam1 tiu3).

To describe a rapid heartbeat, you can add the verb 加速 (jiāsù) meaning 'to accelerate' after the noun to form 心跳加速.

xīntiào

The character 心 for 'heart' is often used as a radical in other characters to indicate emotions or thoughts, because traditional Chinese medicine and philosophy believe the heart is the seat of intelligence.
In Chinese pop culture, a 'heartbeat' moment is often described as 心动 (xīndòng), which literally means 'heart move'.
The character 心 is a pictograph that originally looked like a real human heart, though it has become stylized over thousands of years.

她的心跳加快了。
Her heartbeat accelerated.
紧张的时候，我感觉到心脏跳动。
When I'm nervous, I can feel my heart beating.
我能感觉到他的心跳。
Wǒ néng gǎnjué dào tā de xīntiào.
I can feel his heartbeat.
医生正在听宝宝的心跳。
Yīshēng zhèngzài tīng bǎobao de xīntiào.
The doctor is listening to the baby's heartbeat.

Junjie and Zihan are talking about being nervous before a presentation.

俊杰 Junjie

我好紧张，心跳得太快了。
Wǒ hǎo jǐnzhāng, xīntiào de tài kuài le.
I'm so nervous, my heart is beating too fast.
梓涵 Zihan

深呼吸，你的心跳会慢下来。
Shēnhūxī, nǐ de xīntiào huì màn xiàlái.
Take a deep breath, your heartbeat will slow down.
俊杰 Junjie

但我还是感觉很不安。
Dàn wǒ háishì gǎnjué hěn bù'ān.
But I still feel very uneasy.
梓涵 Zihan

没关系，俊杰，你会做好的。
Méiguānxì, Jùnjié, nǐ huì zuò hǎo de.
It's okay, Junjie, you will do great.

Sources

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