long time no see

English

Etymology

Unknown. Attested US 1901, presented as pidgin English by a Native American. Possibly a calque from Cantonese, comparable to no can do or chop-chop – if so, most likely US Chinatown origin, alternatively British Far East such as Hong Kong. Alternatively, native American origin, or native coinage as pidgin, particularly in cinematic portrayals of native Americans; compare language used by Tonto (1930s).

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Interjection

long time no see

1. (idiomatic) I (or we) have not seen you for a long time.

   Dave! Long time no see! How’s Boston been treating you?

   • 1901, W. F. Drannan, Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains:

     Good morning. Long time no see you.

Derived terms

• long time no hear

Translations

idiomatic: I (or we) have not seen you for a long time

• Arabic: (to a male) لَم أَرَكَ مُنْذُ وَقْت طَوِيل (lam ʔaraka munḏu waqt ṭawīl), (to a female) لَم أَرَكِ مُنْذُ وَقْت طَوِيل (lam ʔaraki munḏu waqt ṭawīl), لَم نَرَكَ مُنْذُ مُدَّة (lam naraka munḏu mudda)
• Belarusian: даўно́ не ба́чыліся (daŭnó nje báčylisja)
• Bulgarian: откога не сме се виждали (otkoga ne sme se viždali)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 好久不見／好久不见 (hou² gau² bat¹ gin³) (formal writing), 好耐冇見／好耐冇见 (hou² noi⁶ mou⁵ gin³) (vernacular)

  Hakka: 好久冇見／好久冇见, 好久冇见 (hó-kiú-mò-kien, hó-kiú-mò-kian)

  Mandarin: 好久不見／好久不见 (zh) (hǎojiǔbùjiàn), 好久不见 (zh) (hǎojiǔbujiàn), 很久沒見／很久没见 (hěnjiǔméijiàn), 很久没见 (hěnjiǔměijiàn)

  Min Nan: 真久無看／真久无看, 真久无看 (chin kú bô khòaⁿ)

  Wu: 長遠勿見／长远勿见, 长远勿见 (zan hhyoe veq ji)

• Chinese Pidgin English: long time no see
• Czech: dlouho jsme se neviděli
• Danish: længe siden
• Dutch: lang niet gezien
• Esperanto: delonge mi ne vidis vin
• Finnish: pitkästä aikaa
• French: ça fait longtemps qu’on ne s’est pas vu !, ça fait longtemps !, ça fait un bail !
• German: lange nicht gesehen
• Greek: χρόνια και ζαμάνια (el) (chrónia kai zamánia)
• Hebrew: מזמן לא התראנו (mizman lo hitra'enu)
• Hindi: बहुत समय से देखा नहीं (bahut samay se dekhā nahī̃)
• Hungarian: ezer éve nem láttalak, rég láttalak
• Icelandic: langt síðan við höfum sést
• Ido: please add this translation if you can
• Indonesian: lama tidak berjumpa
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: is fada ná faca thú (Munster)
• Italian: da quanto tempo!
• Japanese: 久しぶり (ja) (ひさしぶり, hisashiburi), お久しぶりです (o-hisashiburi desu)
• Korean: (formal, polite) 오래간만입니다 (ko) (oraeganmanimnida), (informal, non polite) 오랜만 (ko) (oraenman), (informal polite) 오랜만이에요 (ko) (oraenmanieyo)
• Lithuanian: (informal) seniai matytas m, (informal) seniai matyta f, (informal) šimtas metų! (literally “it's been a hundred years”)
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can
• Navajo: ałkʼidą́ą́ʼ tʼáá niiłtsą́ą́ ńtʼééʼ
• Norwegian:

  Norwegian Bokmål: lenge siden sist

• Persian: مشتاق دیدار (مدت زیادی بود ندیده بودمت)
• Polish: dawno się nie widzieliśmy, (idiomatic) kopę lat!
• Portuguese: há quanto tempo
• Russian: давно́ не ви́делись (davnó ne vídelisʹ), ско́лько лет, ско́лько зим (skólʹko let, skólʹko zim)
• Serbo-Croatian: dugo se nismo vidjeli
• Spanish: ¡cuánto tiempo!, ¡tanto tiempo sin verte!, dichosos los ojos que te ven
• Swedish: det var inte i går
• Tamil: பார்த்து ரொம்ப நாளாச்சு (pārttu rompa nāḷāccu)
• Thai: ไม่ได้พบกันนาน (mâi dâi póp-gan naan)
• Ukrainian: давно́ не ба́чились (davnó ne báčylysʹ)
• Urdu: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: lâu quá không gặp, lâu rồi không gặp
• Welsh: sut mae ers talwm