Does 兩點九 mean 2:09 or 2:45?

Question

I heard somebody using 兩點九 and I thought he means 2:09. Actually, by 兩點九 he means 兩點九個字, or 2:45.

Does 兩點九 have two different meanings? Or does it always mean 2:45?

Answer 1

• Does 兩點九 have two different meanings? Or does it always mean 2:45?

It does not have two different meanings. It means 2:45.

We can also say 兩點四十五分。 In fact, it's more direct to say 兩點四十五分, if we're looking at a digital clock, since this is what is displayed. With a traditional clock with two hands and 12 numbers each representing a 5-minute period, 兩點九 or 兩點九個字 is more direct.

2:09 is 兩點零九分。

Answer 2

兩點九 is in traditional-chinese, with the missing characher "分" , implies Cantonese way of timing.

traditional-chinese is mainly used in HongKong/Taiwan/Macau.

simplified-chinese is used in mainland China.

Cantonese way of timing is used in HongKong/Macau and southern part of mainland China.

fuzzy and confusing ,are'nt they? a small table may help.

time\lang	traditional-chinese(zh-hk)	simplified-chinese(zh-cn)	traditional-chinese(zh-tw)
2:45	兩點九[個字]	两点四十五[分]	not sure
Cantonese 2:45		两点九[个字]	not sure
2:09	兩點零九分	两点零九[分]	not sure

letters in () are utf-8 coding reference;

charachers in [] can be omitted.