半天

Mandarin

simpl. and trad.
半天

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA: [pan˥˩tʰiɛn˥˥]

Noun

半天 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin bàntiān)

1. (Beginning Mandarin) half of the day
   • 2005: anon., 西湖龙井 (Xihu Longjing tea)

     一般需要半天左右時間 (trad.)

      

     一般需要半天左右时间 (simp.)

     in general, one needs about a half of a day

2. (Beginning Mandarin) a long time; quite a while; for a while
   • 1754: Cao Xueqin, zh:s:红楼梦:第三十二回 (Dream of the Red Chamber, Chapter 32)

     寶玉瞅了半天，方說道”你放心”三個字。 (trad.)

      

     宝玉瞅了半天，方说道”你放心”三个字。 (simp.)

     Baoyu stared at her for a while, then said, "don't worry."

   • 2006: anon., zh:Help talk:创建新页面 (Help talk:Creating new pages)

     搞了半天都未能解決，有沒有維基人能幫幫忙？ (trad.)

      

     搞了半天都未能解决，有没有维基人能帮帮忙？ (simp.)

     I've been working on this for quite a while, but still am unable to solve the problem. Are there any Wikipedians that can help me out?

Derived terms

• 上半天
• 下半天

See also

• (Min Nan) 半工 (pòaⁿ-kang)
• (Min Nan) 半日 (pòaⁿ-ji̍t)

References

• 1997, Jerome P. Keuper, Chinese 1000: Idiomatic and Colloquial Expressions (中国话：习惯用法和口语的表达法) (in English/Mandarin), Florida: Krieger Publishing Company, ISBN 1-57524-006-8:
• 2000, Jingmin (ed.) Shao, HSK Dictionary (HSK汉语水平考试词典) (in Mandarin/English), Shanghai: Huadong Teachers College Publishers, ISBN 7561720785:
• 1985, Jingrong (ed.) Wu, The Pinyin CHINESE-ENGLISH DICTIONARY (in Mandarin/English), Beijing, Hong Kong: The Commercial Press, ISBN 0471867969:
• "半天" (in Mandarin/English), Dr. eye. URL accessed on 2009-05-29.

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Min Nan

simpl. and trad.
半天

Pronunciation

• IPA: [ puã˥˧tʰĩ˥˥ ]

Noun

半天 (traditional and simplified, POJ pòaⁿ-thiⁿ)

1. half of the day

Usage notes

• This term is far less commonly used in Min Nan than in Mandarin. In Min Nan, 半工 (pòaⁿ-kang) or 半日 (pòaⁿ-ji̍t) are by far the more preferred terms for everyday speech.

References

• "半天" (in Taiwanese/English), On-line Taiwanese/Mandarin Dictionary (台文／華文線頂辭典). URL accessed on 2011-01-30.