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半夜三更 (bàn yè sān gēng) — (idiom) the depths of the night; late at night

Definition

Set idiom meaning 'the depths of the night' — a literary, emphatic way to say 'very late at night.' More vivid than the plain 深夜.

idiom
the depths of the nightlate at night

Examples

  • 半夜三更，。
    Tā bàn yè sān gēng hái zài jiā bān, zhēn shì xīn kǔ.
    He's still working overtime in the dead of night—that's really tough.
  • 半夜三更，。
    bàn yè sān gēng De shí hou, wài miàn tū rán xià qǐ le dà yǔ.
    In the middle of the night, it suddenly started raining heavily outside.
  • 半夜三更？。
    Shuí bàn yè sān gēng dǎ diàn huà lái? tài chǎo le.
    Who's calling at this late hour? It's too noisy.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

半夜half night
半bànhalf夜yènight
偏正Modifier + head
三更third watch
三sānthird更gèngwatch
偏正Modifier + head

半夜 means half of the night and 三更 is the third watch, so together they point to late night.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape pairs 八 (to divide) with 牛 (cow), showing a cow cut into two halves.

Open 半 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
夕夕xīmoon
Sound part声符shēngfú
亦
亦yì夜yè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The form 夜 pairs 亦 as a sound part with 夕 as a moon part, for night. In the modern shape, the 亦 part is broken up and one stroke merges into 夕.

Open 夜 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

三 is drawn as three parallel strokes, like 一 with one stroke and 二 with two.

Open 三 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
攴攴pūhand holding a whip; action
Sound part声符shēngfú
𰀒
𰀒𰀒更gēng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The old form showed two chariots, 𰀒; 攴, a hand holding a whip, was added to show action, and one chariot part was dropped. The remaining part changed into the shape seen in 更.

Open 更 →
Appears in
Idioms & Set PhrasesTime of Day

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