Japanese symbol for “half”
半
はん
Romaji: han
half; semi-; partial
In Japanese, half is 半, read はん (han).
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Meanings
- n, n-pref half; semi-; partial
- n-suf half-past
- n odd number
- n han (unit of land area, approx. 595.8 m^2)
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “half”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 半分 | はんぶん hanbun | half |
| 半数 | はんすう hansuu | half the number; half (of an amount) |
| 半ば | なかば nakaba | half (of); one half |
| ハーフ | ハーフ haafu | half |
| 五分 | ごぶ gobu | half; 50% |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 半分 | はんぶん hanbun | half |
| 後半 | こうはん kouhan | second half; latter half |
| 前半 | ぜんはん zenhan | first half |
| 大半 | たいはん taihan | majority; more than half; most (of) |
| 半年 | はんとし hantoshi | half a year; six months |
| 半ば | なかば nakaba | middle; halfway; midway |
See also: Chinese symbol for “half”.
Data: JMdict (CC BY-SA 4.0); KANJIDIC2 (CC BY-SA 4.0); KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.