jiǔ
long time
我很想念你，已经很久了。
wǒ hěn xiǎngniàn nǐ, yǐjīng hěn jiǔle.
I miss you so much, it's been a long time.
这本书我看了很久，还没有看完。
zhè běn shū wǒ kànle hěn jiǔ, hái méiyǒu kànwán.
I've been reading this book for a long time, but I haven't finished it yet.
我们已经很久没有见面了，我很想你。
wǒmen yǐjīng hěn jiǔ méiyǒu jiànmiànle, wǒ hěn xiǎng nǐ.
We haven't seen each other for a long time, I miss you.
暂 (zàn)
temporary
短 (duǎn)
short
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The Chinese character 久 (jiǔ) for "long time" is composed of two parts: the radical 巳 (sì) and the phonetic component 韭 (jiǔ). The radical 巳 originally depicted a snake, which was associated with time in ancient Chinese culture. The phonetic component 韭 is a pictograph of a leek, which was used as a homophone for the word "long time". The combination of these two components creates the character 久, which represents the concept of a long duration or a long period of time.
