heartbeat

English

Etymology

From heart +‎ beat.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑːtˌbiːt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑɹtˌbit/, [ˈhɑɹʔbiʔ]

Noun

heartbeat (plural heartbeats)

One pulsation of the heart; especially an irregular one, hence the emotion which causes it.
The policeman waited for a heartbeat in vain.
He alone gives me such heartbeats.
The rhythm at which a heart pulsates, a cardiac indicator.
Synonym: pulse
If your heartbeat doesn't normalize soon, consult a doctor!
A driving impulse or vital force; the vital center of something.
Music is the heartbeat of the people.
- 2022 May 11, Sandra E. Garcia, “Butt Lifts Are Booming. Healing Is No Joke.”, in The New York Times Magazine‎:
  Dream Body Recovery is just one of countless recovery houses that have cropped up in Miami, which has become the heartbeat of the B.B.L. boom in the United States. The average price of a B.B.L. nationwide is around $5,000, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
A very short space of time; an instant.
The ambulance arrived in a heartbeat.
- 2014, Robbie Williams et al (lyrics), “Bullet”:
  Cause I love you more than life Take a bullet for you I swear, I swear In a heartbeat
(computing) A periodic signal generated by hardware or software to indicate normal operation or to synchronize other parts of a system.

Derived terms

in a heartbeat

Translations

one pulsation of the heart

Azerbaijani: ürək döyüntüsu
Bulgarian: пулс (bg) m (puls)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 心跳 (zh) (xīntiào)
Dutch: hartslag (nl)
Finnish: sydämenlyönti
French: pulsation (fr) f, battement (fr) m
Galician: latexo cardíaco m
Georgian: გულისცემა (guliscema)
German: Herzschlag (de) m
Greek: καρδιοπαλμός (el) m (kardiopalmós)
Hindi: धड़कन (hi) (dhaṛkan)
Hungarian: szívdobbanás
Italian: battito (it) m
Japanese: 心拍 (ja) (しんぱく, shinpaku)
Limburgish: hertslaag (li)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: hjerteslag n
Nynorsk: hjarteslag n
Polish: bicie serca n, puls (pl) m
Portuguese: batida de coração f
Russian: бие́ние се́рдца n (bijénije sérdca), сердцебие́ние (ru) n (serdcebijénije), пульс (ru) m (pulʹs), се́рдца стук m (sérdca stuk) (poetic)
Serbo-Croatian: otkucaj (sh) m
Spanish: latido del corazón m, latido (es) m
Swedish: hjärtslag (sv) n
Ukrainian: серцебиття́ n (sercebyttjá)

the rhythm at which a heart pulsates

Azerbaijani: ürək döyüntüsü
Bulgarian: пулс (bg) m (puls)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 心跳 (zh) (xīntiào)
Dutch: hartslag (nl), hartritme (nl) n, pols (nl)
Finnish: syke (fi), sydämensyke
French: rythme cardiaque m
Galician: ritmo cardíaco m
Hungarian: szívverés (hu)
Italian: battito cardiaco m, battito del cuore m, battito del polso m, pulsazione (it)
Malay: denyutan jantung
Maori: kakapa manawa
Russian: сердцебие́ние (ru) n (serdcebijénije), пульс (ru) m (pulʹs), ритм (ru) (ritm) (formal)
Spanish: ritmo cardiaco m
Ukrainian: серцебиття́ n (sercebyttjá)

driving impulse

Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: ^{(please verify)} kloppend hart n , ^{(please verify)} motor (nl)
Finnish: syke (fi)
Italian: cuore pulsante
Russian: please add this translation if you can
Spanish: inspiración (es) f

an instant

Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: hartslag (nl), harteklop
Finnish: silmänräpäys (fi)
Italian: instante (it) m, momento (it) m
Russian: please add this translation if you can
Spanish: instante (es) m, suspiro (es), momento (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Italian: ^{(please verify)} batticuòre m, ^{(please verify)} battito cardiaco m, ^{(please verify)} battito del cuore m, ^{(please verify)} battito del polso m, ^{(please verify)} pulsazione (it)
Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 心拍 (ja) (shinpaku)