Example sentences
zhè这tiáo条hé河hěn很cháng长。
This river is long.
huì会yì议kāi开le了hěn很jiǔ久。
The meeting went on long.
The story behind the character
长
长 in the oracle bone is a person with long hair, drawn from the side. Long hair marked an old man, so one character carried both jobs: cháng, long, and zhǎng, to grow, to be the elder. Xu Shen wrote 长, 久远也, long-lasting and far. The simplified 长 is what cursive handwriting did to the older form.