减半 (jiǎn bàn) — to reduce by half, to halve | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A verb meaning 'to halve / reduce by half.' Use it as a set phrase — typically in business, policy, or statistics contexts to say a quantity is cut to 50%.

verb

to reduce by halfto halve

Examples

减半。
Gōng sī de chéng běn yǐ jīng jiǎn bàn le.
The company's costs have already been halved.
。
Zhè ge shù zì jiǎn le yí bàn.
This number has been reduced by half.
，。
Chǎn liàng jiǎn guò yí bàn yǐ hòu, lì rùn fǎn ér zēng jiā le.
After production was halved, profits actually increased.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

减 (reduce) and 半 (half) combine to mean cutting something by half.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 減; 减 is its simplified writing.

氵咸減

氵水shuǐwater
咸咸xiánseal

The traditional form 減 has 氵, water, and 咸, a seal: sealing off a stream of water lessens its flow. The simplified 减 is a later abbreviation.

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

八八bāto divide
牛牛niúcow

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

Appears in

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