Home/Taiwanese Mandarin/All pairs/三不五時 vs 不时
from time to time · Different wording
Different wording The two terms share 不时 in their simplified forms but are different words. In Taiwan the standard term is 三不五時; on the Mainland it is 不时 - both point at “from time to time”.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Education dictionaries record 三不五時、不時 for this concept. The Mainland standard is among them - the difference is which form each side makes the default.
不时 is HSK 5 vocabulary on the HSK 3.0 list.
Pair source: CC-CEDICT, which tags the Taiwan form as Taiwan usage.
| Taiwan · 台灣 | Mainland · 大陆 | |
|---|---|---|
| Written form | 三不五時 | 不时 |
| Reading | ㄙㄢ ㄅㄨˋ ㄨˇ ㄕˊ sān bù wǔ shí | bù shí ㄅㄨˋ ㄕˊ |
| Senses | from time to time | from time to time; now and then; occasionally |
| Syllabus | — | HSK 5 |
| MOE records | 三不五時 · 不時 | |
| Dictionary | not in the LinZi dictionary | entry → |
| Audio | — | |
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