Meaning
half; semi-; incomplete; (after a number) and a half; half
Chinese: 一半、不完整。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “ban” becomes a different word in each tone. 半 is the 4th tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 一半yī bànhalf
- 半天bàn tiānhalf of the day; a long time; quite a while; midair
- 半年bàn niánhalf a year
- 半夜bàn yèmidnight; in the middle of the night
- 多半duō bànmost; mostly; most likely
Example Sentence
这个苹果分给你一半。Zhè ge píng guǒ fēn gěi nǐ yí bàn.I will give you half of this apple.
这个Zhè ge(pronoun) this苹果píng guǒApple (American tech compa分给fēn gěito divide (and give to oth你nǐyou一半yí bànhalf。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The dividing sign 八 (‘to split’) over a thing being cut down the middle: dividing something into two — ‘half’.
A way to remember it
A split mark over the middle — cut in half.
Easy to confuse with
- 羊‘Sheep’: a similar top, but with an extra horizontal stroke and built as a sheep’s head.