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终日 (zhōng rì) — all day (long)

Definition

Literary/written for 'all day long' — reads as more formal than the everyday 整天. Functions as a noun or adverbial in pre-modern style prose.

noun
all day (long)

Examples

  • 终日。
    Tā zhōng rì zài shū fáng lǐ dú shū.
    He reads in the study all day long.
  • 终日。
    zhōng rì Máng lù què háo wú shōu huò.
    Busy all day but without any gain.
  • 终日。
    Tā zhōng rì zuò zài chuāng qián fā dāi.
    She sits by the window in a daze all day.

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.

终zhōngwhole
日rìday

终 gives the whole period and 日 gives the day, so it means all day.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 終; 终 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糹Written in full as糸mì
Sound part声符shēngfú
冬
冬dōng終zhōng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 終 pairs 糸 (a cord) with 冬 as a sound part; the simplified 终 is a later shorthand. An older form showed a knot at the end of a cord.

Open 终 →

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 →
Appears in
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