Learn Chinese Characters 150 半

by Caren Zuo

半 （bàn）



半= 八 （a semantic part meaning separating or getting away from）+
    牛 （a semantic part meaning a cow）

Cows, the big animals are popular in agriculture society. Then it is also very popular in forming new combined characters. Take the character “牧” for example，the right part is a picture is a “hand”, and the character “牧” means “graze cows with hands”. The character “牢” show us that it is a place (the upper part meaning a house) where a cow lives. Then the character “牢” got its extensive meaning “a jail”, where people are imprisoned and they are not free.

Here the character “分” show us a picture to split a cow with a knife. Therefore it means “a half”.

Useful Phrases：
一半 (yí bàn ) a half
半年 (bàn nián ) half of a year
半天 (bàn tiān ) half of a day
半月 (bàn yuè) half of a month
半道 （bàn dào） half of the way