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心悸 (xīn jì) — (medicine) palpitation; (literary) a feeling of fear or fright; to be scared

Definition

心悸 (xīnjì) is a compound of 心 'heart' and 悸 'throb/palpitate'. It means the physical sensation of the heart pounding irregularly; the literary sense 'to be scared' is a metaphor extending that thumping feeling to sudden fear.

noun
(medicine) palpitation(literary) a feeling of fear or frightto be scared

Examples

  • 心悸，。
    Tā zuì jìn jīng cháng gǎn dào xīn jì, yī shēng jiàn yì tā duō xiū xi.
    He has been feeling palpitations lately, and the doctor advised him to rest more.
  • ，心悸。
    Tīng dào zhè ge xiāo xi, tā tū rán gǎn dào yí zhèn xīn jì.
    Upon hearing this news, she suddenly felt a pang of fear.
  • 心悸，。
    xīn jì Shì yì zhǒng cháng jiàn de xīn zàng zhèng zhuàng, dàn bú bì guò yú dān xīn.
    Palpitation is a common cardiac symptom, but there's no need to worry too much.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

心xīnheart
悸jìpalpitation

心 gives heart, and 悸 gives palpitation, so the word names a fluttering feeling in the heart.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 心 comes from a drawing of a heart, now highly stylized.

Open 心 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
忄Written in full as心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
季
季jì悸⁰jì
Same sound today

悸 pairs 忄, a form of 心 (heart), with 季, which gives the sound.

Open 悸 →
Appears in
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