heartbeat
/ˈhɑɹtˌbit/noun
heartbeat is spelled H-E-A-R-T-B-E-A-T. The wrong spelling people search most is heatbeat: about 30 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 110 of all searches for the word. Heartbeat is a noun meaning “One pulsation of the heart; especially an irregular one, hence the emotion which causes it”. The plural of heartbeat is heartbeats.
How many letters and syllables are in heartbeat?
| Letters | 9: H-E-A-R-T-B-E-A-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.7 times per million words; the 11,685th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, heatbeat, about 30 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell heartbeat?
Heartbeat is spelled H-E-A-R-T-B-E-A-T. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 110 of the searches for heartbeat in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is heartbeat?
Heartbeat appears 4.7 times per million words in written English, the 11,685th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce heartbeat?
- UK /ˈhɑːtˌbiːt/
- US /ˈhɑɹtˌbit/
- US [ˈhɑɹʔbiʔ]
Heartbeat has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-heartbeat.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-heartbeat.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with heartbeat
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: heart beat (one word or two).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of heartbeat
- heartbeats plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does heartbeat mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
One pulsation of the heart; especially an irregular one, hence the emotion which causes it.
The policeman waited for a heartbeat in vain.
- 2
The rhythm at which a heart pulsates, a cardiac indicator.
If your heartbeat doesn't normalize soon, consult a doctor!
- 3
A driving impulse or vital force; the vital center of something.
Music is the heartbeat of the people.
- 4
A very short space of time; an instant.
The ambulance arrived in a heartbeat.
- 5
A periodic signal generated by hardware or software to indicate normal operation or to synchronize other parts of a system.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Heartbeat in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | pulsation, battement , rythme cardiaque |
| German | Herzschlag |
| Portuguese | batida de coração |
| Spanish | latido del corazón, latido, latido cardíaco / cardiaco, latido cardial , ritmo cardiaco / cardíaco, ritmo cardial |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does heartbeat come from?
From heart + beat.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).