long time no see
I have not seen you for a long timeI (or we) have not seen you for a long time.
» How long have you two been seeing each other?
Скільки ви вже зустрічаєтеся? — deniko
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
1 senses(idiomatic)I (or we) have not seen you for a long time.
Dave! Long time no see! How’s Boston been treating you?
lange nicht gesehen
давно́ не ви́делисьdavnó ne vídelisʹ, ско́лько лет, ско́лько зимskólʹko let, skólʹko zim
давно́ не ба́чилисьdavnó ne báčylysʹ
Examples
118 sentencesHow long have you two been seeing each other?
Скільки ви вже зустрічаєтеся? — deniko
Long time, no see.
Давно не бачилися. — deniko
ruДавно не виделись. — kobylkin
deLange nicht gesehen. — xtofu80
Hey, long time no see.
Привіт, давно не бачилися. — deniko
How long you have been seeing Tom?
How long have you been seeing Tom?
Translations
9 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
Uncertain. Possibly a calque of Cantonese 好耐冇見 /好耐冇见 (hou² noi⁶ mou⁵ gin³), Mandarin 很久沒見Uncertain. Possibly a calque of Cantonese 好耐冇見 /好耐冇见 (hou² noi⁶ mou⁵ gin³), Mandarin 很久沒見 /很久没见 (hěnjiǔméijiàn), Mandarin 好久不見 /好久不见 (hǎojiǔbùjiàn), or similar expressions in other Chinese varieties, comparable to no can do or chop-chop – if so, most likely US Chinatown origin, or, alternatively, British Far East such as Hong Kong. Alternatively, native American origin, or native coinage as pidgin, particularly in cinematic portrayals of native Americans; compare language used by Tonto (1930s).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.