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心驚肉跳

简心惊肉跳 · 繁心驚肉跳

Mandarin · pinyin xīn jīng ròu tiào

lit. heart alarmed, body leaping (idiom); fear and trepidation in the face of disaster

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Characters in this entry

心: xīn · heart; mind, intelligence; soul; 5th lunar mansion, determinative star α Scorpii (Antares)
驚: Look up this written character
肉: ròu · flesh; meat; Kangxi radical 130
跳: tiào · jump, leap, vault, bounce; dance
惊: jīng · frighten, surprise, startle

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–1–4–4 · xin1 jing1 rou4 tiao4

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

心驚肉跳 · find source passages ↗ · 心惊肉跳 · find source passages ↗

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to palpitate with anxiety and fear; to be filled with apprehension

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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