日日夜夜 (rì rì yè yè) — night and day, day and night (continuously, wit…

Definition

An adverbial phrase meaning 'day and night, continuously' — emphasizes non-stop duration. Functions as a bound form, typically used before verbs or before 地 to modify them.

bound form

night and dayday and night (continuously, without stop)

Examples

日日夜夜。
Tā wèi le kǎo shì rì rì yè yè dì xué xí.
He studied day and night for the exam.
日日夜夜。
Mā ma rì rì yè yè zhào gù shēng bìng de hái zi.
The mother cared for her sick child day and night.
日日夜夜，。
Gōng rén men rì rì yè yè gǎn gōng, zhōng yú wán chéng le rèn wu.
The workers worked day and night to rush the project, and finally finished the task.

Origin

Reduplicated word

构词法gòucífǎ

重叠chóngdiéReduplication

A syllable said twice — for affection, for softness, or simply because that is how the word is said.

日日

日rìday日rìday

夜夜

夜yènight夜yènight

日 (day) and 夜 (night), each said twice, mean continuously day and night.

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.

Open 日 →

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.

Open 日 →

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 →