深更半夜

shēngēngbànyè
idiom

Meanings

  1. 1 in the dead of night
  2. 2 the small hours

Examples

Shēngēng bànyè de, nǐ qù nǎr?
It's the middle of the night — where are you going?
Tā jīngcháng shēngēng bànyè cái huíjiā.
He often gets home in the dead of night.

Tips

culture
(gēng) refers to the five night watches of imperial China, each about two hours. (sān gēng, roughly 11pm–1am) is the classic witching hour — hence the common 半夜三更.

Stroke Order

shēn
gèng
bàn