long time no see
long time no see interjection: i (or we) have not seen you for a long time.
Interjection
- I (or we) have not seen you for a long time.
- Dave! Long time no see! How’s Boston been treating you?
- This lady had only assumed the reins of government a short time, when one morning Appoo made his appearance.—"Ma-am—long time no see wife—want go to Colombo see wife.[...]"1843, James Campbell, Excursions, Adventures, and Field-sports in Ceylon: Its Commercial and Military Importance, and Numerous Advantages to the British Emigrant, volume 1, London: T. and W. Boone...
long time no see meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Arabic and Malay
long time no see in Hindi
- idiomatic: I (or we) have not seen you for a long time
- बहुत समय से देखा नहीं bahut samay se dekhā nahī̃
long time no see in Tamil
- idiomatic: I (or we) have not seen you for a long time
- பார்த்து ரொம்ப நாளாச்சு pārttu rompa nāḷāccu
long time no see in Arabic
- idiomatic: I (or we) have not seen you for a long time
- لَم أَرَكَ مُنْذُ وَقْت طَوِيل lam ʔaraka munḏu waqt ṭawīl, لَم أَرَكِ مُنْذُ وَقْت طَوِيل lam ʔaraki munḏu waqt ṭawīl, لَم نَرَكَ مُنْذُ مُدَّة lam naraka munḏu mudda
long time no see in Malay
- idiomatic: I (or we) have not seen you for a long time
- lama tak jumpa
More languagesFewer languages
- long time no see in Indonesian
- lama tidak berjumpa
- long time no see in Persian
- مشتاق دیدار
- long time no see in Thai
- ไม่ได้พบกันนาน mâi dâi póp-gan naan
- long time no see in Vietnamese
- lâu quá không gặp, lâu rồi không gặp, lâu ngày không gặp
Examples of long time no see in a sentence
- Long time no see," answered Mamie, who from constant association had, like the other girls of the neighborhood, fallen into the habit of talking pigeon English to the Chinamen.1892, William Norr, Stories of Chinatown: Sketches from Life in the Chinese Colony of Mott, Pell and Doyers Streets, New York: William...
- Long time no see you," and at the same time presented the gun with the breech foremost.1899, William F. Drannan, Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains or, the Last Voice from the Plains, Chicago: Rhodes &...
Forms of long time no see
| alternative form | long time, no see |
|---|
Origin of long time no see
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).
Words formed from long time no see
Questions about long time no see
- What does long time no see mean?
- Long time no see means i (or we) have not seen you for a long time.
- What is long time no see in Hindi?
- Long time no see in Hindi is बहुत समय से देखा नहीं (bahut samay se dekhā nahī̃). See Long time no see meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use long time no see in a sentence?
- Long time no see," answered Mamie, who from constant association had, like the other girls of the neighborhood, fallen into the habit of talking pigeon English to the Chinamen.
- What part of speech is long time no see?
- Long time no see is an interjection.
Words near long time no see in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: long time no see (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-long time no see.ogg.
Cite this entry: “long time no see.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/long_time_no_see. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.