What it means
نبض (nabz) means pulse, the beat of the heart as felt through an artery. The word comes from the Arabic root ن-ب-ض (n-b-d), which carries the meaning of throbbing or pulsating, and entered Persian along with the classical Islamic medical tradition. A doctor or nurse checks your نبض at the wrist or throat to assess heart rate. The formal medical phrase is نبض را گرفتن (nabz rā gereftān, to take the pulse). In Iranian culture the word extends beyond medicine: نبض جامعه (nabz-e jāme’e) means “the pulse of society,” and saying “نبضش رو گرفتم” (I took their pulse) informally means you tested the mood or sounded someone out before acting.
How to use it
- نبضم خیلی تنده. (Nabzam kheyli tond-e.) “My pulse is very fast.”
- پرستار نبضم رو گرفت. (Parastār nabzam ro gereft.) “The nurse took my pulse.”
- نبض ضعیف داره. (Nabz za’if dāre.) “He has a weak pulse.”
- نبض بیمار منظم نیست. (Nabz-e bimār monazzam nist.) “The patient’s pulse is irregular.”
Cultural note
In classical Persian medicine, rooted in the works of Ibn Sina (ابن سینا, known in Europe as Avicenna), reading the pulse was one of the primary diagnostic tools. Ibn Sina’s Canon of Medicine describes dozens of pulse types and their meanings, a tradition that survived in Iranian طب سنتی (tebb-e sonnati, traditional medicine) into the modern era. Today you can still find traditional healers in Iran who diagnose primarily by pulse. The word نبض therefore carries weight beyond a vital sign. In Persian literature, poets use it as a synonym for life itself: if نبض still beats, there is still hope.