Kanji · JLPT N5 · Level 3
半 half
- Meaning
- half
- On reading
- ハン
- Kun reading
- なか(ば)
Memory hook
八 (split) sitting over two lines and a stem. 八 is doing the splitting: half. ハン. 半分 is half, 三時半 is half past three.
Words that use 半
半分
はんぶん
half
二時半
にじはん
half past two
How to write 半
Stroke order · 5 strokes
1
2
3
4
5
- 1. The diagonal down to the right.
- 2. The sweep down to the left.
- 3 to 4. The horizontal across the middle.
- 5. The vertical through the centre.
Stroke data from KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
General rules
- Top to bottom, left to right.
- Horizontal strokes before crossing vertical ones (十 = horizontal, then vertical).
- Outside before inside - but close a box last (口).
- A vertical that passes all the way through comes last (中).
- Left-falling diagonal before right-falling (大).
半 is taught on day 7 of the kanji course, alongside 年 時 分, with two writing passes and a short quiz.