HSK 3 · Time

久 jiǔ “long time” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 久 means

  1. long time
  2. (of a period of time) long

How to say 久

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale久jiǔ3rd tone, dipping

久 in a sentence

  1. 让您等了很久，我很抱歉。

    Ràng nín děng le hěn jiǔ, wǒ hěn bàoqiàn.

    Sorry to have kept you waiting so long.

    Sentence #472339 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我在外地生活了很久。

    Wǒ zài wàidì shēnghuó le hěn jiǔ.

    I’ve lived away from home for a long time.

    Sentence #9518534 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 您会待很久吗？

    Nín huì dāi hěn jiǔ ma?

    Will you be staying long?

    Sentence #464901 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 久 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 久 (jiǔ) drawn as one shape
久jiǔlong

久 is a single shape of 3 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 久

久 3 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

久 (jiǔ) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 久 (jiǔ). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 久

Words with 久

不久bùjiǔ · soon好久hǎojiǔ · a long time悠久yōujiǔ · long-standing持久chíjiǔ · lasting

More words: Time

后来hòulái · afterwards几乎jīhū · almost季节jìjié · season经常jīngcháng · often马上mǎshàng · at once其实qíshí · actually其他qítā · other秋qiū · autumn

FAQs

久 (jiǔ) means “long time” or “(of a period of time) long”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it jiǔ: jiǔ with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 久 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type jiu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 久 from the suggestions. Typing jiu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
久 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.