怦 (pēng) — (onomatopoeia) thump, pit-a-pat (sound of a heartbeat)
Definition
Onomatopoeia for a single thump of the heart — typically reduplicated as 怦怦 to mimic rapid heartbeats, or paired with 然 (怦然) to mean 'with a sudden thump'.
onomatopoeia
thumppit-a-pat (sound of a heartbeat)
Easily confused
- 坪pínglook-alikea unit of land area (approx. 3.3 m², used in Taiwan and Japan)
- 嘭pēngsound-alike(onomatopoeia) bang, boom, thud (loud impact or explosion)
- 评pínglook-aliketo evaluate, to judge, to comment on (the quality or merit of)
- 烹pēngsound-aliketo boil (food, tea, etc.)
- 呯pínglook-alikebang (sound of a gunshot, gong, or explosion)
- 澎pēngsound-aliketo splash, to spatter
Examples
- ，。Tīng dào zhè ge xiāo xi, wǒ de xīn pēng pēng zhí tiào.Hearing this news, my heart went thump-thump.
- ，怦。Tā zhàn zài tái shàng, xīn lǐ pēng rán yí dòng.Standing on the stage, her heart suddenly skipped a beat.
- ，怦。Tā kàn jiàn tā shí, xīn pēng rán yí tiào.When he saw her, his heart gave a sudden thump.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.
怦 is built from 心 (heart) and 平, with 心 marking the heart and 平 providing the sound.
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