Chinese

Noun

半天

1. 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

Synonyms

• (Cantonese, Min Nan) 半日
• (Min Nan) 半工 (pòaⁿ-kang)

Adverb

半天

1. for a long time; for quite a while; for a while; forever
   • 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》 (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?

2. midair