大半天 (dà bàn tiān) — more than half a day; a long while

Definition

noun

more than half a daya long while

大半天，。
Wǒ děng le dà bàn tiān, tā cái lái.
I waited for more than half a day before he came.
大半天。
Tā huā le dà bàn tiān cái zuò wán zuò yè.
He spent a long while finishing his homework.
大半天，。
Wǒ men liáo le dà bàn tiān, cóng xià wǔ liáo dào wǎn shàng.
We chatted for more than half a day, from afternoon till evening.

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.

大dàmore than

半天half a day

偏正Modifier + head

大, meaning more than, extends 半天, half a day, into a stretch longer than half a day.

Characters in this word

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

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.

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

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.