大半天

Chinese

		more than half; the greater part; very likely more than half; the greater part; very likely; most probably	day; sky; heaven
simp. and trad. (大半天)		大半	天

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): dàbàntiān

  (Zhuyin): ㄉㄚˋ ㄅㄢˋ ㄊㄧㄢ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): daai⁶ bun³ tin¹
• Jin (Wiktionary): da³ ban³ tie¹
• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁶du-poe-thi
• Xiang (Changsha, Wiktionary): dai⁵ bonn⁴ tienn¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: dàbàntiān
    • Zhuyin: ㄉㄚˋ ㄅㄢˋ ㄊㄧㄢ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: dàbàntian
    • Wade–Giles: ta⁴-pan⁴-tʻien¹
    • Yale: dà-bàn-tyān
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: dahbanntian
    • Palladius: дабаньтянь (dabanʹtjanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tä⁵¹⁻⁵³ pän⁵¹ tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: daai⁶ bun³ tin¹
    • Yale: daaih bun tīn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: daai⁶ bun³ tin¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: dai⁶ bun³ tin¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /taːi̯²² puːn³³ tʰiːn⁵⁵/
• Jin
  • (Taiyuan)⁺
    • Wiktionary: da³ ban³ tie¹
    • Sinological IPA (old-style, no sandhi): /ta⁴⁵ pæ̃⁴⁵ tʰie¹¹/
• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ⁶du-poe-thi
    • MiniDict: du^去 poe thi
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³du-poe-thi
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /du²² pø⁵⁵ tʰi²¹/
• Xiang
  • (Changsha)
    • Wiktionary: dai⁵ bonn⁴ tienn¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tai̯²¹⁻¹¹ põ⁴⁵ tʰi̯ẽ³³/

Noun

大半天

1. most of the day; most of the daytime in a day

   我忙了大半天了，活兒就不停地來；可逮著了個空兒歇會兒！ [dialectal Mandarin, trad.]
   我忙了大半天了，活儿就不停地来；可逮着了个空儿歇会儿！ [dialectal Mandarin, simp.]

   Wǒ máng le dàbàntiān le, huór jiù bùtíng de lái; kě děi zháo le ge kòngr xiē huǐr! [Pinyin]

   I was busy all day, and the work just keeps coming; I finally could get hold of some time to rest a little!

2. (figurative) a long time; quite a while

Synonyms

• (most of the day):

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		大半天
Northeastern Mandarin	Taiwan	大半天
	Harbin	大半天
Jilu Mandarin	Jinan	大半天
Central Plains Mandarin	Xi'an	大半天
	Xining	多半天
	Xuzhou	大半天, 多半天
Lanyin Mandarin	Yinchuan	大半天
	Lanzhou	大半天
	Ürümqi	多半天, 大半天
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	大半天
	Guiyang	老半天
	Liuzhou	大半天
Jianghuai Mandarin	Nanjing	大半天
	Yangzhou	大半天
Cantonese	Hong Kong	大半日
	Dongguan	大半日
Gan	Nanchang	大半日
	Lichuan	大半日
	Pingxiang	大半工
Hakka	Meixian	大半日
	Yudu	大半工, 大半日
Huizhou	Jixi	大半日
Jin	Taiyuan	大半天, 多半天
	Xinzhou	大半天
Northern Min	Jian'ou	大半工
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	大半日, 大半工
Southern Min	Xiamen	規半日
	Quanzhou	規半日
	Zhangzhou	規半日
	Haikou	大半日
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	大半日
Wu	Shanghai	大半日, 大半天
	Shanghai (Chongming)	大半日, 大半天
	Ningbo	大半日
	Jinhua	大半日
Xiang	Changsha	大半天
	Loudi	大半日

Dialectal synonyms of 大半天 (“most of the day”) [map]