一半

yí bàn

half

HSK Level 1

Example Sentences

我有一半的书是中文的。

wǒ yǒu yībàn de shū shì zhōngwén de.

Half of my books are in Chinese.

他把钱分了一半给我。

tā bǎ qián fēnle yībàn gěi wǒ.

He gave me half of the money.

这个班一半是男生,一半是女生。

zhège bān yībàn shì nánshēng, yībàn shì nǚshēng.

Half of the class are boys, and half are girls.

Synonyms

(bàn)

half

一半儿 (yībànr)

half

一半天 (yībàntiān)

half a day

Antonyms

全部 (quánbù)

all

一半 (yībàn)

half

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Etymology & Components

The Chinese character 一半 (yī bàn) literally means "one half" and is used to express the concept of "half" or "a half". It is composed of two characters: 一 (yī), meaning "one", and 半 (bàn), meaning "half". The character 半 is further composed of two parts: the radical 刀 (dāo), meaning "knife", and the phonetic component 办 (bàn). The radical 刀 indicates that the character is related to cutting or dividing, while the phonetic component 办 provides the pronunciation. Together, the two characters 一半 form a compound word that means "half" or "a half".