bàn nián
half a year
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我半年没去中国了。
wǒ bàn nián méi qù zhōngguó le.
I haven't been to China for half a year.
他半年没理我了。
tā bàn nián méi lǐ wǒ le.
He hasn't talked to me for half a year.
这半年我一直在学习中文。
zhè bàn nián wǒ yīzhí zài xuéxí zhōngwén.
I've been studying Chinese for the past half year.
半年 (bàn nián)
half a year
半年期 (bàn nián qī)
half-year period
半年制 (bàn nián zhì)
half-year system
全年 (quánnián)
whole year
一年 (yīnián)
one year
The Chinese word 半年 (bànnián) for "half a year" is composed of two characters: 半 (bàn), meaning "half", and 年 (nián), meaning "year". The character 半 is a pictograph depicting a person standing in the middle of a circle, representing the concept of "half". The character 年 is a combination of two pictographs: 日 (rì), meaning "sun", and 月 (yuè), meaning "moon". Together, these two characters represent the concept of "a year", as the sun and moon are used to mark the passage of time. When combined, the characters 半 and 年 form the word 半年, which literally means "half a year".
