老半天

Chinese

		old; aged; venerable old; aged; venerable; outdated; experienced; (affectionate prefix)	half a day; a long time; quite a while half a day; a long time; quite a while; a while; forever
trad. (老半天)		老	半天
simp. #(老半天)		老	半天

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): lǎobàntiān

  (Zhuyin): ㄌㄠˇ ㄅㄢˋ ㄊㄧㄢ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): lou⁵ bun³ tin¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: lǎobàntiān
    • Zhuyin: ㄌㄠˇ ㄅㄢˋ ㄊㄧㄢ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: lǎobàntian
    • Wade–Giles: lao³-pan⁴-tʻien¹
    • Yale: lǎu-bàn-tyān
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: laobanntian
    • Palladius: лаобаньтянь (laobanʹtjanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /lɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ pän⁵¹ tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: lou⁵ bun³ tin¹
    • Yale: lóuh bun tīn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: lou⁵ bun³ tin¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: lou⁵ bun³ tin¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /lou̯¹³ puːn³³ tʰiːn⁵⁵/

Noun

老半天

1. (colloquial) for a long while

   • 次日一早上院見了撫台，叩頭謝委，竟不知要說些什麼方好，吱吱了老半天，仍舊一個字未曾說。 [Written Vernacular Chinese, trad.]
     次日一早上院见了抚台，叩头谢委，竟不知要说些什么方好，吱吱了老半天，仍旧一个字未曾说。 [Written Vernacular Chinese, simp.]

     From: c. 1906, Li Baojia, Officialdom Unmasked

     Cìrì yīzǎo shàng yuàn jiàn le fǔtái, kòutóu xièwěi, jìng bùzhī yào shuō xiē shénme fāng hǎo, zīzī le lǎobàntiān, réngjiù yī ge zì wèicéng shuō. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)