下半年 (xià bàn nián) — second half of the year

Definition

noun

second half of the year

下半年。
Wǒ men gōng sī xià bàn nián de yè jì bǐ shàng bàn nián hǎo.
Our company's performance in the second half of the year is better than in the first half.
下半年。
Tā jì huà xià bàn nián qù zhōng guó liú xué.
He plans to study abroad in China in the second half of the year.
下半年，。
xià bàn nián Kāi shǐ, wǒ men yào shí xíng xīn de zhèng cè.
Starting from the second half of the year, we will implement new policies.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

半年half year

偏正Modifier + head

下 gives the later or lower part, 半 means half, and 年 means year; together they name the second half of a year.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

下 is drawn as a short horizontal line below a long curved line.

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape pairs 八 (to divide) with 牛 (cow), showing a cow cut into two halves.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

禾禾héwheat; grain

Sound part声符shēngfú

人

人rén年nián

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

年 pairs 禾 (grain) with 人, which gives the sound. Its original meaning was harvest, and it later came to mean a year.