半

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

Translingual

Stroke order
0 strokes

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 ⿻丷𰀁(GHTJ) or ⿻八𰀁(K))

  1. Shuowen Jiezi radical №18

Derived characters

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

Chinese

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

Etymology 1

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

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. * 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

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   ―  1½ pounds
    十點半／十点半 [Cantonese]  ―  sap6 dim2 bun3   ―  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   ―  half past nine
Usage notes

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

Further reading

Etymology 2

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

Definitions

半

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

Further reading

  • 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

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

半

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

  1. half

Readings

Compounds

Noun

半(はん) • (han) 

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

Prefix

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

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

  1. ^ “半”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎ (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025

Korean

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

半 (eumhun 반 반 (ban ban))

  1. hanja form? of 반 (“half”)

Compounds

References

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

Vietnamese

Han character

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

Compounds

References

  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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