一整天 (yī zhěng tiān) — whole day; entire day

Definition

noun
whole dayentire day

Examples

  • ,一整天。
    Wèi le wán chéng zhè ge xiàng mù, wǒ máng le yī zhěng tiān.
    I was busy the whole day to finish this project.
  • 一整天,。
    yī zhěng tiān Dōu zài xià yǔ, wǒ men méi chū mén.
    It rained the entire day, so we didn't go out.
  • 一整天,。
    Tā jīn tiān yī zhěng tiān méi chī dōng xī, zhī hē le shuǐ.
    He didn't eat anything the whole day today, only drank water.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

整天whole day
偏正Modifier + head

一 means one, 整 means whole, and 天 means day, giving one whole day.

Characters in this word

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

一 is drawn as one horizontal stroke, marking the number one.

Open 一 →

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
Sound part声符shēngfú
正
正zhèng整zhěng
Same sound today

整 pairs 敕 as the meaning side with 正 as the sound side.

Open 整 →

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
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng天tiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape comes from a frontal standing man 大 with a head; 天 pairs 大 with 丁 for sound.

Open 天 →

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