HSK 3.0 Level 1 · Numbers

一半 yībàn “half” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 一半 means

  1. half

How to say 一半

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale一yī1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale半bàn4th tone, falling

一半 in a sentence

  1. 我吃了一半三明治了。

    Wǒ chī le yíbàn sānmíngzhì le.

    I’ve eaten half my sandwich.

    Sentence #8581033 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 面包被吃了一半。

    Miànbāo bèi chī le yíbàn.

    The bread has been half eaten.

    Sentence #14023304 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 差不多一半同学都学过英语。

    Chàbuduō yíbàn tóngxué dōu xuéguo Yīngyǔ.

    Nearly half the class have studied English.

    Sentence #12568749 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 一半 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 一 (yī) drawn as one shape
一yīone

一 is a single shape of 1 stroke. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidOne stroke for one, the way people once counted with rods.

The character 半 (bàn) with each of its parts in a different colour
半bànhalf
  • 丷eight form of 八 · bā
  • 牛cow · niú

Memory aidAn ox 牛 split 丷 down the middle: half.

How to write 一半

一 1 strokes · 半 5 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

一半 (yībàn) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 一半 (yībàn). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 一半

Words with 一

一yī · one一些yīxiē · some一点儿yìdiǎnr · a little一起yìqǐ · together第一dìyī · first一下yíxià · (after a verb) briefly一般yìbān · general一定yídìng · surely一共yígòng · altogether一样yíyàng · the same

Words with 半

半bàn · half半天bàntiān · half a day半途而废bàntú'érfèi · to give up halfway

More words: Numbers & Measure Words

间jiān · (measure word for rooms)名míng · name封fēng · (m.w. for letters好多hǎoduō · a lot of斤jīn · jin (unit of weight部bù · part

FAQs

一半 (yībàn) means “half”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word.
Say it yībàn: yī with a 1st tone, then bàn with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 一半 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yiban with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 一半 from the suggestions. Typing yiban into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
一半 is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 1 word list. It is not on the older HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.