半天

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
• Min Nan (POJ): pòaⁿ-thiⁿ
• Wu (Wiktionary): poe thi (T2)
• Xiang (Wiktionary): bonn⁴ tienn¹

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• 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 tʰjɛn⁵⁵/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, erhua-ed)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: bàntiānr
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄢˋ ㄊㄧㄢㄦ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: bàntianr
    • Wade–Giles: pan⁴-tʻianrh¹
    • Yale: bàn-tyānr
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: banntial
    • Palladius: баньтяnр (banʹtjanr)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pän⁵¹ tʰjɑɻ⁵⁵/
  • (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)⁺
    • 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 tʰxie¹¹/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: pòaⁿ-thiⁿ
    • Tâi-lô: puànn-thinn
    • Phofsit Daibuun: pvoartvy
    • IPA (Xiamen): /puã²¹⁻⁵³ tʰĩ⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /puã⁴¹⁻⁵⁵⁴ tʰĩ³³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /puã²¹⁻⁵³ tʰĩ⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Taipei): /puã¹¹⁻⁵³ tʰĩ⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /puã²¹⁻⁴¹ tʰĩ⁴⁴/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • Wiktionary: poe thi (T2)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pø³³ tʰi⁴⁴/
• Xiang
  • (Changsha)
    • Wiktionary: bonn⁴ tienn¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /põ⁴⁵ tʰiẽ³³/

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

2. (figuratively, 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》 (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

• (half a day): 半日 (bànrì), 半晌 (bànshǎng); (Cantonese) 半晝／半昼; (Min Nan) 半工 (pòaⁿ-kang), 半晡 (pòaⁿ-po͘)
• (a long time): 半日 (bànrì)

Related terms

• 全日 (quánrì)
• 全天 (quántiān)