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Learn Chinese Characters 150 半
Author: caren_zuo Date: 2008-04-03 17:49
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
Tags:
Chinese_characters
Display Tagged Entries
Learn Chinese Characters 155 走 (2008-04-14 09:06)
Learn Chinese Characters 154 足 (2008-04-12 18:18)
Learn Chinese Characters 153 止 (2008-04-12 17:21)
Learn Chinese Characters 152 去 (2008-04-07 11:01)
Learn Chinese Characters 149 分 (2008-04-03 17:46)
Learn Chinese Characters 148 私 (2008-04-01 09:08)
Learn Chinese Characters 147公 (2008-04-01 08:52)


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