Meaning & readings
half, middle, odd number, semi-, part-
On’yomi ハン
Kun’yomi なか.ば
Nanori は
Origin
The character 半 combines a dot above the number ten to show something divided in the middle. The dot marks a point of division, while the ten below represents a whole or complete unit. Together, they visually suggest cutting or splitting something—like ten split into two equal parts of five each—which is why the character means "half" or "middle." This simple picture of division explains why 半 also extends to mean partial or semi- in modern usage.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 5
- Kangxi radical
- 24
- Grade
- Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #224 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 4
- Unicode
- U+0534A