半

Translingual

Stroke order

Alternative forms

• In Korean hanja, the upper component of the character is written in the form of ハ.

Han character

半 (Kangxi radical 24, 十+3, 5 strokes, cangjie input 火手 (FQ), four-corner 9050₀, composition ⿻丷⿻二丨(GHTJV) or ⿻八⿻二丨(K))

1. Shuōwén Jiězì radical №18

Derived characters

• 判

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 156, character 7
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2707
• Dae Jaweon: page 354, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 46, character 1
• Unihan data for U+534A

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		半

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 半
Western Zhou
Bronze inscriptions

Characters in the same phonetic series (半) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
半	*paːns
絆	*paːns
靽	*paːns
姅	*paːns, *pʰaːns
拌	*pʰaːn, *baːnʔ
拚	*pʰaːn, *brons, *pʰaːn, *puns
坢	*pʰaːnʔ
判	*pʰaːns
泮	*pʰaːns
頖	*pʰaːns
胖	*pʰaːns
冸	*pʰaːns
牉	*pʰaːns
柈	*baːn
伴	*baːnʔ, *baːns
叛	*baːns
畔	*baːns
袢	*ban

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 八 + 牛.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *par. Related to 畔 (OC *baːns, “bank between fields”), which is an endopassive of 半 (OC *paːns, “half”), lit. "be separated from".

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 半

1. half

   全國人口的一半／全国人口的一半  ―  quánguó rénkǒu de yībàn  ―  half of the national population

   一磅半 [Cantonese]  ―  jat¹ bong⁶ bun³ [Jyutping]  ―  1½ pounds

   十點半／十点半 [Cantonese]  ―  sap⁶ dim² bun³ [Jyutping]  ―  10:30

2. very little
3. halfway, partially, semi-

   半醉半醒  ―  bàn zuì bàn xǐng  ―  partially in a stupor, partially awake

Further reading

• “Entry #1397”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

(deprecated template usage)

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Japanese

Kanji

半

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

1. half

Readings

• Go-on: はん (han, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: はん (han, Jōyō)
• Kun: なかば (nakaba, 半ば, Jōyō)

Compounds

Derived terms

• 半(はん)妖(よう) (han'yō)
• 半(はん)神(しん) (hanshin): a demigod
• 折(せっ)半(ぱん) (seppan)
• 半(はん)時(じ)間(かん) (hanjikan)
• 半(はん)数(すう) (hansū)

• 半(はん)月(げつ) (hangetsu), 半(はん)月(つき) (hantsuki)
• 半(はん)年(とし) (hantoshi)
• 半(はん)田(だ) (handa)
• 半(はん)分(ぶん) (hanbun)
• 半(はん)島(とう) (hantō): a peninsula
• 四(し)半(はん) (shihan): a quarter

Noun

半(はん) • (han) 

1. odd (especially of dice)

   Antonyms: 丁(ちょう) (chō, “even”)

Prefix

半(はん) or 半(prefix) • (han or prefix) [[Category:Japanese
|はん]]

1. half, semi-

   半(はん)年(とし)

   hantoshi

   semiannual

   半(はん)世(せい)紀(き)

   hanseiki

   semicentennial

Antonyms

• 複(ふく) (fuku, “double”)
• 全(ぜん) (zen, “entire”)

Suffix

半(はん) or 半(suffix) • (han or suffix) [[Category:Japanese
|はん]]

1. half

   四(よん)倍(ばい)半(はん)

   yon-bai han

   four times and a half

   二(に)十(じゅう)二(に)年(ねん)半(はん)

   nijūni-nen han

   twenty-two years and a half

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Korean

Hanja

半 (eumhun 반 반 (ban ban))

1. hanja form^? of 반 (“half”)

Compounds

• 半導體 (반도체, bandocheh)
• 半指 (반지, banji)
• 半球 (반구, bangu)
• 韓半島 (한반도, hanbando)
• 過半數 (과반수, gwabansu)
• 半齒音 (반치음, banchieum)
• 折半 (절반, jeolban)
• 北半球 (북반구, bukbangu)
• 南半球 (남반구, nambangu)
• 半萬年 (반만년, banmannyun)
• 半跏思惟像 (반가사유상, bangasayusang)
• 金銅彌勒菩薩半跏思惟像 (금동미륵보살반가사유상

, geumdongmireukbosalbangasayusang)

• 半跏坐 (반가좌,bangajwa)
• 半音 (반음, baneum)

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Vietnamese

Han character

半: Hán Việt readings: bán (博(bác)漫(mạn)切(thiết))
半: Nôm readings: bán, bớn, bướng, vắn, búng, bận, ban, bướn

1. chữ Hán form of bán (“half”).
2. Nôm form of bán (“to sell”).
3. Nôm form of bớn.

Compounds

Compounds

• 半球 (bán cầu)
• 半引 (bán dẫn)
• 半島 (bán đảo)
• 半結 (bán kết)
• 半徑 (bán kính)