怀胎十月

懷胎十月
huáitāi shíyuè
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 ten months of pregnancy
  2. 2 to carry a child for ten lunar months

Examples

HSK 6
Huáitāi shíyuè, yì zhāo fēnmiǎn.
Ten months' pregnancy culminates in one moment of birth.
HSK 7-9
Mǔqīn huáitāi shíyuè zhēnde bù róngyì.
Carrying a child for ten months is truly hard for a mother.

Tips

culture
Traditional Chinese reckoning counts pregnancy as ten lunar months (around 40 weeks, close to the Western nine-month count). The phrase is often used rhetorically to invoke a mother’s sacrifice.

Stroke Order

怀 huái
胎 tāi
十 shí
月 yuè