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百分之五十 (bǎi fēn zhī wǔ shí) — fifty percent

Definition

A fixed phrase meaning 'fifty percent' (50%), used in statistics, rates, and proportions. It pairs with 的 to specify 'X% of [noun]' (e.g., 百分之五十的学生).

numeral
fifty percent

Examples

  • 百分之五十。
    bǎi fēn zhī wǔ shí De xué shēng tōng guò le kǎo shì.
    Fifty percent of the students passed the exam.
  • 百分之五十。
    Zhè cì huó dòng de chéng gōng lǜ zhǐ yǒu bǎi fēn zhī wǔ shí.
    The success rate of this event is only fifty percent.
  • 百分之五十。
    Gōng sī jué dìng jiāng lì rùn de bǎi fēn zhī wǔ shí yòng yú yán fā.
    The company decided to use fifty percent of the profits for research and development.

Origin

Characters in this word

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
一一yī
Sound part声符shēngfú
白
白bái百bǎi
Same sound today

百 combines 一, which carries the number meaning, with 白, which provides the sound.

Open 百 →

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

分 pairs 八 (to separate) with 刀 (knife), showing something cut apart with a knife.

Open 分 →

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

The shape pairs 止, a foot, with 一, a beginning place, and means to go.

Open 之 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

An older form had a crossed mark between a top bar and a bottom bar. The modern 五 keeps those bars, while the original idea is uncertain.

Open 五 →

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

The early shape 十 was mostly a single vertical stroke, sometimes with a dot, and later gained a horizontal stroke to form a cross. For the number ten, it marked the next digit above one.

Open 十 →
Appears in
Quantity & Amount

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