延々
えんえん
endlessly, on and on
By Nihongo PathUpdated
Examples
延々と続く会議だ。
えんえんとつづくかいぎだ。
It is a meeting that goes on and on.
彼は延々と文句を言い続けた。
かれはえんえんともんくをいいつづけた。
He went on complaining endlessly.
渋滞は延々十キロにわたって続いていた。
じゅうたいはえんえんじゅっキロにわたってつづいていた。
The traffic jam stretched on for a full ten kilometres.
Common patterns
- 延々と続く
- to drag on and on
- 延々と話す
- to talk interminably
- 延々と待たされる
- to be kept waiting forever
Memory tip
延 is "to stretch out", and the word almost always carries the speaker's impatience: the length has become tedious. Before a number it means "for as much as", as in 延々三時間.
Kanji in this word
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What does 延々 mean?