格登 (gé dēng) — (onomatopoeia) sound of a sudden heartbeat or a heavy step; also used figuratively to describe a startle

Definition

Onomatopoeia for a single sharp thud — a heavy footfall or a startled heart skipping a beat. Often reduplicated as 格登格登 for repeated thuds.

onomatopoeia
sound of a sudden heartbeat or a heavy stepalso used figuratively to describe a startle

Examples

  • ，格登。
    Tīng dào zhè ge xiāo xi, wǒ xīn lǐ gé dēng le yí xià.
    When I heard the news, my heart went thump.
  • ，格登。
    Tā zǒu lù shí, fā chū gé dēng de jiǎo bù shēng.
    When he walked, his footsteps made a thumping sound.
  • ，格登。
    Tā tū rán xiǎng qǐ yí shì, xīn lǐ gé dēng yī shēng.
    She suddenly remembered something, and her heart gave a thump.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
拟声nǐshēngOnomatopoeia

The characters imitate a sound; their individual meanings play no part.

格gé
登dēng

The characters 格登 imitate a sudden thud or startle and do not carry their own meanings here.

Sound-only characters

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
木木mùwood
Sound part声符shēngfú
各
各gè格gé
Same sound today

格 is built from 木 (wood) on the left and 各 on the right, which gives the sound.

Open 格 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 癶癶bōleft and right feet
  • 豆豆dòupictogrammic of raised object; stepping stone

登 pairs 癶, left and right feet, with 豆, a raised object or stepping stone; its older form also showed two hands at the bottom, which later dropped.

Open 登 →

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