English: half middle odd number semi- part-	On-Yomi: ハン	Kun-Yomi: なか.ば は

Bushu (Radical) Info:
丶 (てん) – dot
十 (じゅう) – cross

Henshall Mnemonic: half a hornless cow, split down middle

Levels: JLPT N5 | JLPT 4 (old) | Grade 2
Frequency: #224 of the 2500 most used kanji in newspapers

Common Words and/or Phrases Using this Kanji:

Click any individual kanji to view a similar information sheet for it.
Click [K] to look up the word's individual character(s) at WWWJDIC.
Click [D] to look up the word at WWWJDIC (definition is the same but other useful features exist).
Click [Jisho] to look up the word at Jisho.org.

JLPT N5 Words

• 半   [はん]
  (n-adv,n,n-suf) half   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半分   [はんぶん]
  (n-adv,n) half   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N3 Words

• 前半   [ぜんはん]
  (n) first half   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半ば   [なかば]
  (n-adv,n) middle; half; semi; halfway; partly   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 大半   [たいはん]
  (n) majority; mostly; generally   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N2 Words

• 過半数   [かはんすう]
  (n) majority   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半径   [はんけい]
  (n) radius   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半島   [はんとう]
  (n) peninsula   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N1 Words

• 半端   [はんぱ]
  (adj-na,n) remnant; fragment; incomplete set; fraction; odd sum; incompleteness   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Other Popular Words Not Classified by JLPT

• 四半期   [しはんき]
  (n) quarter (of a year)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 前半戦   [ぜんはんせん]
  first half of the game or match   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 上半期   [かみはんき]
  (n) first half of a year   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 上半身   [じょうはんしん]
  (n) upper half of body; bust   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 中途半端   [ちゅうとはんぱ]
  (adj-na,n) halfway; half measures; unfinished; incomplete; by halves   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半々   [はんはん]
  (n) half and half; fifty-fifty   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 折半   [せっぱん]
  (n,vs) half; division   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半額   [はんがく]
  (n-adv,n) half; half amount; half fare   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半官半民   [はんかんはんみん]
  (adj-no,n) semi-governmental; semi-official   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半期   [はんき]
  (n-adv,n-t) half-term; half-time; half period   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 後半   [こうはん]
  (n-adv,n) second half   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半月   [はんつき]
  (n-adv,n-t) half-moon; half month; semicircle   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 後半戦   [こうはんせん]
  (n) second half   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半減   [はんげん]
  (n,vs) reduction by half; halve   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半周   [はんしゅう]
  (n) semicircle; half globe   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半熟   [はんじゅく]
  (adj-no,n) half-cooked; half-done; soft-boiled   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半身   [はんしん]
  (n) half the body; half length   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半数   [はんすう]
  (n) half the number   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 下半期   [しもはんき]
  (n) the last half-year   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 下半身   [かはんしん]
  (n) lower half of body   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半生   [はんせい]
  (n) half a lifetime   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半袖   [はんそで]
  (n) short sleeves   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半値   [はんね]
  (n) half price   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半導体   [はんどうたい]
  (n) semiconductor   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半日   [はんにち]
  (n-adv,n-t) half day   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Find more details for 半 at jisho.org, Yookoso! or WWWJDIC
or download a PDF version of this information sheet

Acknowledgments

The sofware used to generate this kanji information uses the EDICT and KANJIDIC files. These files are the property of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group at Monash University and are used in conformance with the Group's license.

NOTE: I converted the sources just mentioned years ago and have never really updated so there may be some missing or incorrect information that has been addressed in the original sources but not here.

The first Stroke Order image used on this page is courtesy of Ulrich Apel's excellent open source KanjiVG project. The second image is from the folks at the excellent Jisho Japanese-English dictionary site and it too is based on KanjiVG.

Classifying the kanji and popular vocabulary by the new JLPT levels was done by consulting Jonathan Waller‘s JLPT Resources page, renshuu, Wictionary, and Nihongo Ichiban.

The Henshall Mnemonics are the copyright of Tuttle Publishing and are the result of the hard work by Professor Henshall. See the list I used here.

If you are curious about the lexicography shown in the word definitions, visit the WWWJDIC abbreviations and codes guide and the JMdict/Edict Lexicographical details page.