half, middle, odd number, semi-
Came from Chinese. It usually shows up when the kanji is joined to another, forming a compound word.
It is Japanese. It usually shows up when the kanji stands alone or is followed by hiragana.
The order matters: it is what makes handwriting come out legible, and it is how dictionaries index the character.
Visual decomposition, for recognising and comparing — not always the character's origin.
Where it appears is highlighted — the translation doesn't always make that visible.
今日は違うよ！会議があるから、十二時半に変わったんだ。
Kyou wa chigau yo! Kaigi ga aru kara, juuni-ji han ni kawattan da.
Not today! It changed to twelve thirty because of the meeting.
だいたい十時半から、十五分間だよ。
Daitai juu-ji han kara, juugofun-kan da yo.
Usually around ten thirty, for fifteen minutes.
Readings and meanings: KANJIDIC2 · Decomposition: KRADFILE · Both from Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group, CC BY-SA 4.0 · data from 2026-09-07 · Strokes: KanjiVG, Ulrich Apel, CC BY-SA 3.0