半天

bàntiān
noun HSK 1 #10,559

Meanings

  1. 1 half a day
  2. 2 quite a while

Characters

Often used figuratively to mean 'quite a while', not literally half a day

Examples

Wǒ děng le bàntiān.
I waited for quite a while.
Tā shuō le bàntiān, wǒ háishi bù dǒng.
He talked for ages, and I still don't understand.

Tips

usage
半天 is more often used figuratively ('a long time') than literally ('half a day'). Context makes the meaning clear.

Stroke Order

bàn
tiān