日常 (rì cháng) — daily; everyday; day-to-day | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

An adjective meaning 'daily, everyday' — describing routine things (work, life). Unlike 平常 (ordinary/usual) or 正常 (normal), 日常 focuses on what happens every day.

adjective

dailyeverydayday-to-day

Examples

日常？
Shuí fù zé rì cháng gōng zuò?
Who is responsible for the daily work?
日常？
Nǐ xí guàn zhè lǐ de rì cháng shēng huó ma?
Are you used to the daily life here?
日常。
Jì lù rì cháng shēng huó hěn zhòng yào.
Recording daily life is very important.

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.

常chángordinary

日 means day and 常 means ordinary, so it describes things done every 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

巾巾jīncloth

Sound part声符shēngfú

尚

尚shàng常cháng

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

常 pairs 巾, a cloth, with 尚 as a sound part; the form originally referred to a lower garment.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 4 HSK 2.0 Level 5 Daily Routine

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