长达

• Pinyin: cháng dá
• Hanzi breakdown: 长 = simplified 長 (long, to grow, pictograph of long hair); 达 = simplified 達 (to reach) = 辶 + 大 (phonetic)

Meaning

As long as; lasting; extending to. Used to emphasise that a duration or length reaches or exceeds a notably large quantity.

A degree phrase used before a measurement of time, distance, or physical length to emphasise that the quantity is impressively large. Always precedes the measurement (长达三年, lasting as long as three years; 长达数百公里, extending as far as several hundred kilometres). Used in both formal writing and speech. Not used for abstract, non-measurable qualities.

Examples

1. 两国的外交谈判持续了长达三年，最终才就核心争议达成框架协议。 Diplomatic negotiations between the two countries lasted as long as three years before a framework agreement was finally reached on the core disputes.
2. 这条输油管道绵延长达四千公里，横跨三个国家，是该地区最重要的能源通道。 This oil pipeline stretches as far as four thousand kilometres across three countries and is the most important energy corridor in the region.
3. 她在海外从事科研工作长达二十年，为国家培养了一批顶尖的生物医学人才。 She worked abroad in scientific research for as long as twenty years and trained a cohort of top biomedical talent for the country.

Usage Guide

Context: journalism, reports, history, science, description

Tone: emphatic

Do Say

• 这项工程的建设周期长达八年，耗资超过三百亿元。(The construction period for this project lasted as long as eight years and cost over thirty billion yuan.)
• 患者在确诊后接受了长达一年半的化疗，最终成功康复出院。(After diagnosis, the patient underwent chemotherapy lasting a full year and a half and was eventually discharged after a successful recovery.)

Don't Say

• 他长达很高兴。(长达 must precede a specific measurable quantity — time, distance, or length; it cannot modify emotions or abstract states)

Origin & History

长 (long) + 达 (to reach, to attain). Together: reaching as far or as long as a specified measure.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal