半天

Chinese

		half; semi-; incomplete half; semi-; incomplete; (after a number) and a half	day; sky; heaven
simp. and trad. (半天)		半	天

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Standard)
(Pinyin): bàntiān

(Zhuyin): ㄅㄢˋ ㄊㄧㄢ

(Dungan, Cyrillic and Wiktionary): бантян (banti͡an, III-I)
Cantonese (Jyutping): bun³ tin¹
Jin (Wiktionary): ban³ tie¹
Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): pòaⁿ-thiⁿ
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁵poe-thi
Xiang (Changsha, Wiktionary): bonn⁴ tienn¹

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: bàntiān
  - Zhuyin: ㄅㄢˋ ㄊㄧㄢ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: bàntian
  - Wade–Giles: pan⁴-tʻien¹
  - Yale: bàn-tyān
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: banntian
  - Palladius: баньтянь (banʹtjanʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /pän⁵¹ tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵/
- (Standard Chinese, erhua-ed)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: bàntiānr
  - Zhuyin: ㄅㄢˋ ㄊㄧㄢㄦ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: bàntianr
  - Wade–Giles: pan⁴-tʻien¹-ʼrh
  - Yale: bàn-tyānr
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: banntial
  - Palladius: баньтяньр (banʹtjanʹr)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /pän⁵¹ tʰi̯ɑɻ⁵⁵/
- (Dungan)
  - Cyrillic and Wiktionary: бантян (banti͡an, III-I)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /pæ̃⁴⁴ tʰiæ̃²⁴/
  (Note: Dungan pronunciation is currently experimental and may be inaccurate.)
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: bun³ tin¹
  - Yale: bun tīn
  - Cantonese Pinyin: bun³ tin¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: bun³ tin¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /puːn³³ tʰiːn⁵⁵/
Jin
- (Taiyuan)⁺
  - Wiktionary: ban³ tie¹
  - Sinological IPA (old-style): /pæ̃⁴⁵ tʰie¹¹/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: pòaⁿ-thiⁿ
  - Tâi-lô: puànn-thinn
  - Phofsit Daibuun: pvoartvy
  - Sinological IPA (Xiamen): /puã²¹⁻⁵³ tʰĩ⁴⁴/
  - Sinological IPA (Quanzhou): /puã⁴¹⁻⁵⁵⁴ tʰĩ³³/
  - Sinological IPA (Zhangzhou): /puã²¹⁻⁵³ tʰĩ⁴⁴/
  - Sinological IPA (Taipei): /puã¹¹⁻⁵³ tʰĩ⁴⁴/
  - Sinological IPA (Kaohsiung): /puã²¹⁻⁴¹ tʰĩ⁴⁴/
Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ⁵poe-thi
  - MiniDict: poe^去 thi
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ²poe-thi
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /pø³³ tʰi⁴⁴/
Xiang
- (Changsha)
  - Wiktionary: bonn⁴ tienn¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /põ⁴⁵ tʰi̯ẽ³³/

Noun

半天

half a day
- 一般需要半天左右時間 [MSC, trad.]
  一般需要半天左右时间 [MSC, simp.]
  From: 2005: Chinese Wikipedia, 西湖龍井 (Xihu Longjing tea)
  yībān xūyào bàntiān zuǒyòu shíjiān [Pinyin]
  in general, one needs about half a day’s time
(figurative, hyperbolic) a long time; quite a while; a while; forever
她扭捏了好半天才說出來話。 [MSC, trad.]
她扭捏了好半天才说出来话。 [MSC, simp.]
Tā niǔniē le hǎo bàntiān cái shuō chūlái huà. [Pinyin]
She acted shy for a quite while before she spoke.
- 寶玉瞅了半天，方說道「你放心」三個字。 [MSC, trad.]
  宝玉瞅了半天，方说道「你放心」三个字。 [MSC, simp.]
  From: 1754: 曹雪芹 (Cao Xueqin), 《紅樓夢》 / 《红楼梦》 (Dream of the Red Chamber), chapter 32
  Bǎoyù chǒu le bàntiān, fāng shuōdào “nǐ fàngxīn” sān ge zì. [Pinyin]
  Baoyu stared at her for a while, then said three words: "don't you worry."
- 搞了半天都未能解決，有沒有維基人能幫幫忙？ [MSC, trad.]
  搞了半天都未能解决，有没有维基人能帮帮忙？ [MSC, simp.]
  From: 2006: Encyclopedist, 幫助討論:創建新條目 (Help talk:Creating new pages)
  Gǎo le bàntiān dōu wèinéng jiějué, yǒu méiyǒu wéijīrén néng bāngbāngmáng? [Pinyin]
  I've been working on this for quite a while, but still am unable to solve the problem. Are there any Wikipedians who can help me out?

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 半天 (“half a day”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		半天
Northeastern Mandarin	Harbin	半天, 半晌
Jilu Mandarin	Jinan	半天
Central Plains Mandarin	Luoyang	半晌
	Xi'an	半天
	Xining	半天
	Xuzhou	半天
Lanyin Mandarin	Yinchuan	半天
Lanyin Mandarin	Ürümqi	半天
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	半天
	Wuhan	半天
	Guiyang	半天
	Liuzhou	半天
Jianghuai Mandarin	Nanjing	半天
Jianghuai Mandarin	Yangzhou	半天
Cantonese	Guangzhou	半晝
Cantonese	Dongguan	半日
Gan	Nanchang	半日
	Lichuan	半日
	Pingxiang	半工
Hakka	Meixian	半日
Hakka	Yudu	半工, 半日
Huizhou	Jixi	半日
Jin	Taiyuan	半天, 半晌
Northern Min	Jian'ou	半工
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	半日
Southern Min	Xiamen	半工, 半日, 半晡
	Quanzhou	半工, 半日, 半晡
	Zhangzhou	半日, 半晡
	Zhangzhou (Changtai)	半晡仔
	Tainan	半工 GT, 半日 GT, 半晡 GT
	Manila (Hokkien)	半日
	Haikou	半日
Puxian Min	Putian	半工, 半日
	Putian (Jiangkou, Hanjiang)	半工, 半日
	Putian (Nanri, Xiuyu)	半工
	Xianyou	半工
	Xianyou (Fengting)	半工
	Xianyou (Youyang)	半工
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	半日
Wu	Shanghai	半日, 半天, 半白天
	Shanghai (Chongming)	半天, 半日
	Suzhou	半日, 半日天
	Danyang	半天
	Hangzhou	半日
	Ningbo	半日
	Wenzhou	半日
	Jinhua	半日
Xiang	Changsha	半天
Xiang	Loudi	半日

(a long time): 半日 (bànrì); (Mainland China) 半晌 (bànshǎng); (Northern Min) 半工

Related terms

全日 (quánrì)
全天 (quántiān)

Japanese

Kanji in this term
半	天
はん Grade: 2	てん Grade: 1
kan'on

Alternative spellings
半纏袢纏

Etymology

Alternative spelling of 半纏 (hanten), replacing the second kanji 纏 (han, “wear, warp”) with the kanji 天 (ten, “sky, heavens”), apparently as a phonetic replacement and simplification, due to the relative rarity and complexity of the 纏 character.

Definitions

For pronunciation and definitions of 半天 – see the following entry.

【半纏はんてん】

[noun] [from 1754] a traditional practical workman's short winter jacket, like a haori, but without gussets or tie-cords at the chest, and with a flat (non-folding) collar

[noun] [from 1773] short for 印半纏 (shirushi-banten): a hanten jacket, with a prominently visible household, group, or company brand mark, typically worn by family members, retainers, or employees

Alternative spelling
袢纏

(This term, 半天, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)