夜班

• Pinyin: yè bān
• Hanzi breakdown: 夜 = 亦 (also/shadow) + 夕 (dusk — the period of deepening shadows after sunset); 班 = 王 (jade) + 刀 (knife) + 王 (jade — the act of dividing jade into portions; extended to dividing or rotating duty assignments)

Meaning

Night shift; overnight duty. The working period assigned during nighttime hours, typically from late evening through the early morning.

Common in industries that require 24-hour operations: hospitals, factories, transport, security, and emergency services. 上夜班 means to work the night shift; 倒夜班 means to rotate onto the night shift. Associated in discourse with health risks of irregular schedules, salary supplements (夜班费 — night shift pay), and the social realities of shift workers.

Examples

1. 医院急诊科的护士长在连续上了五个夜班之后，因严重睡眠不足引发了低烧和头晕，不得不申请临时调休。 After working five night shifts in a row, the head nurse in the ER developed a low-grade fever and dizziness from severe sleep deprivation and had to request time off.
2. 工厂为了赶上季末的大批订单，将部分流水线改为三班倒制度，其中夜班的工人每小时比日班多领取一定比例的补贴。 To meet a large wave of end-of-quarter orders, the factory switched some production lines to a three-shift rotation, with night-shift workers receiving a higher hourly differential than day-shift workers.
3. 他做了十年夜班保安，长期颠倒的作息规律让他即便在休假日也难以在正常时间入睡。 He worked as a night-shift security guard for ten years, and the long-term upside-down schedule made it hard for him to fall asleep at normal hours even on days off.

Usage Guide

Context: workplace, healthcare, manufacturing, labour policy

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 劳动法要求安排夜班须经员工同意，并支付不低于日班1.3倍的补贴，但一些中小企业把夜班费并入底薪，变相规避规定。(Labor law requires employee consent before assigning night shifts and a supplement of no less than 1.3 times the daytime wage, but some small and medium-sized companies fold the night-shift pay into base salary to evade the rule.)
• 长期上夜班的医护人员健康风险更高，研究显示慢性睡眠紊乱与夜班作业密切相关，医院应定期体检并提供心理支持。(Healthcare workers who work night shifts for long periods face higher health risks, and research shows a close link between chronic sleep disruption and night-shift work, so hospitals should provide regular checkups and psychological support.)

Don't Say

• 我去上夜课 (when meaning a night work shift) — 夜课 refers to evening study classes, not a work shift; say 我去上夜班 for working the night shift; confusing 夜课 and 夜班 is a common mix-up since both involve nighttime activity but one is study and the other is work

Origin & History

夜 (night — 亦 also/shadow + 夕 dusk/evening; the dark period when shadows fall) + 班 (shift/duty rotation — originally the act of dividing jade; extended to dividing or rotating duties)

Cultural Context

Era: Modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal