老半天

Chinese

		old; aged; venerable old; aged; venerable; outdated; experienced; (affectionate prefix)	half a day; a long time; quite a while half a day; a long time; quite a while; a while; forever
trad. (老半天)		老	半天
simp. ^#(老半天)		老	半天

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): lǎobàntiān

(Zhuyin): ㄌㄠˇ ㄅㄢˋ ㄊㄧㄢ
Cantonese (Jyutping): lou⁵ bun³ tin¹

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: lǎobàntiān
  - Zhuyin: ㄌㄠˇ ㄅㄢˋ ㄊㄧㄢ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: lǎobàntian
  - Wade–Giles: lao³-pan⁴-tʻien¹
  - Yale: lǎu-bàn-tyān
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: laobanntian
  - Palladius: лаобаньтянь (laobanʹtjanʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /lɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ pän⁵¹ tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: lou⁵ bun³ tin¹
  - Yale: lóuh bun tīn
  - Cantonese Pinyin: lou⁵ bun³ tin¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: lou⁵ bun³ tin¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /lou̯¹³ puːn³³ tʰiːn⁵⁵/

Noun

老半天

(colloquial) for a long while
- 次日一早上院見了撫台，叩頭謝委，竟不知要說些什麼方好，吱吱了老半天，仍舊一個字未曾說。 [Written Vernacular Chinese, trad.]
  次日一早上院见了抚台，叩头谢委，竟不知要说些什么方好，吱吱了老半天，仍旧一个字未曾说。 [Written Vernacular Chinese, simp.]
  From: c. 1906, Li Baojia, Officialdom Unmasked
  Cìrì yīzǎo shàng yuàn jiàn le fǔtái, kòutóu xièwěi, jìng bùzhī yào shuō xiē shénme fāng hǎo, zīzī le lǎobàntiān, réngjiù yī ge zì wèicéng shuō. [Pinyin]
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)