日夜 (rì yè) — day and night; around the clock | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A compound noun meaning 'day and night,' used adverbially (often reduplicated as 日日夜夜) to stress continuous, nonstop action. Pairs with 昼夜 in more formal/written contexts; the set phrase 夜以继日 is the idiomatic equivalent.

noun

day and nightaround the clock

Examples

。
Tā rì yè dōu zài xué xí.
He studies day and night.
日夜。
Zhè jiā yī yuàn rì yè dōu yǒu yī shēng zhí bān.
This hospital has doctors on duty day and night.
日夜，。
Jīng guò rì yè de fèn dòu, tā zhōng yú shí xiàn le mèng xiǎng.
After day and night of hard work, he finally realized his dream.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

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

“日” means day and “夜” means night, together covering the whole day.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

日 originally drew the sun. A mark was added inside to tell it apart from similar square shapes.

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.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 6 Time of Day

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