Wiktionary

半

半 U+534A, 半
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-534A
← 卉
[U+5349] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 卋 →
[U+534B]

Translingual

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Stroke order
 

Alternative forms

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

Han character

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半 (Kangxi radical 24, 十+3, 5 strokes, cangjie input 火手 (FQ), four-corner 90500, composition ⿻丷𰀁(GHTJV) or ⿻八𰀁(K))

  1. Shuowen Jiezi radical №18

Derived characters

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References

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  • 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

Chinese

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Glyph origin

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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 (“to divide”) + 牛 (“cow”) – to cut a cow into two halves.

Etymology 1

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simp. and trad.
 半

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".

Pronunciation

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Note:
  • bua4/buaⁿ4 - vernacular;
  • buang4/buong4 - literary.
Note:
  • pòaⁿ - vernacular;
  • poàn - literary.
Note:
  • bua3 - vernacular;
  • buang7 - literary.
Rime
Character 半
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 幫 (1)
Final (韻) 桓 (62)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Closed
Division (等) I
Fanqie 博慢切
Baxter panH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/puɑnH/
Pan
Wuyun 		/pʷɑnH/
Shao
Rongfen 		/puɑnH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/pwanH/
Li
Rong 		/puɑnH/
Wang
Li 		/puɑnH/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/puɑnH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		bàn
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		bun3
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 半
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		bàn
Middle
Chinese 		‹ panH ›
Old
Chinese 		/*pˁan-s/
English half

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 半
Reading # 1/1
No. 243
Phonetic
component 		半
Rime
group 		元
Rime
subdivision 		1
Corresponding
MC rime 		半
Old
Chinese 		/*paːns/

Definitions

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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
  4. (Hong Kong, informal, neologism) half past
    九半 [Cantonese]  ―  gau2 bun3 [Jyutping]  ―  half past nine
Usage notes
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半 (bàn) + classifier + noun indicate half of something, while number + classifier + 半 (bàn) + noun means "and a half".

半塊麵包／半块面包  ―  bàn kuài miànbāo  ―  half a loaf of bread
兩塊半麵包／两块半面包  ―  liǎng kuài bàn miànbāo  ―  two and a half loaves of bread

Compounds

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Further reading

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Etymology 2

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simp. and trad.
 半
alternative forms 畫／画

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

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Definitions

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半

  1. (Teochew) half
    一半 [Teochew]  ―  zêg8 uê5 [Peng'im]  ―  half

Further reading

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  • Fielde, Adele Marion (1883) “ûe”, in A Pronouncing and Defining Dictionary of the Swatow Dialect, Arranged According to Syllables and Tones, Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press, page 607

Japanese

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Shinjitai 半
Kyūjitai
[1]
半󠄁
半+&#xE0101;?
(Adobe-Japan1) 		 
半󠄃
半+&#xE0103;?
(Hanyo-Denshi)
(Moji_Joho)
The displayed kanji may be different from the image due to your environment.
See here for details.

Kanji

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半

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

  1. half

Readings

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Compounds

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Derived terms

Noun

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半(はん) • (han) 

  1. odd (especially of dice)
    Antonyms: 丁(ちょう) (chō, “even”)

Prefix

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半(はん) • (han-) 

  1. half, semi-
    半(はん)年(とし)
    hantoshi
    semiannual
    半(はん)世(せい)紀(き)
    hanseiki
    semicentennial
Antonyms

Suffix

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半(はん) • (-han) 

  1. and a half
    四(よん)倍(ばい)半(はん)
    yon-bai han
    four and a half times
    二(に)十(じゅう)二(に)年(ねん)半(はん)
    nijūni-nen han
    twenty-two and a half years

References

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  1. ^ “半”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2024

Korean

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Etymology

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From Middle Chinese 半 (MC panH). Recorded as Middle Korean 반 (pan) (Yale: pan) in Sinjeung Yuhap (新增類合 / 신증유합), 1576.

Pronunciation

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  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [pa̠(ː)n]
  • Phonetic hangul: [반(ː)]
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Hanja

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Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

半 (eumhun 반 반 (ban ban))

  1. hanja form? of 반 (“half”)

Compounds

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Compounds

References

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  • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]

Vietnamese

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Han character

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半: Hán Việt readings: bán (博(bác)漫(mạn)切(thiết))[1][2][3][4][5]
半: Nôm readings: bán[1][2][3][4][5][6], bớn[3][4][5][6], bướng[3][7], vắn[1], búng[2], bận[3], ban[3], bướn[5]

  1. chữ Hán form of bán (“half”).
  2. Nôm form of vắn (“short, brief”).
  3. Nôm form of bán (“to sell”).
  4. Nôm form of bớn.

Compounds

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Compounds

References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Nguyễn (2014).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Nguyễn et al. (2009).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Trần (2004).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Bonet (1899).
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Génibrel (1898).
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Taberd & Pigneau de Béhaine (1838).
  7. ^ Hồ (1976).
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