less than half; small portion
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 4 examplesnoun
less than half of the whole; a small portion
Often takes the suffix 儿 (小半儿) in spoken Northern Mandarin. Refers to a significant but minority portion of a total.
Xī西
guā瓜
chī吃
le了
yī一
dà大
bàn半
，
shèng剩
xià下
yī一
xiǎo小
bàn半
shí实
zài在
chī吃
bù不
xià下
le了
。
I ate more than half of the watermelon, and I really couldn't finish the remaining small portion.
Píng瓶
zi子
lǐ里
hái还
yǒu有
xiǎo小
bàn半
píng瓶
niú牛
nǎi奶
。
There's still less than half a bottle of milk in the bottle.
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Xiǎo小
bàn半
nián年
de的
shí时
jiān间
guò过
qù去
le了
，
xiàng项
mù目
hái还
méi没
yǒu有
wán完
chéng成
。
Less than half a year has passed, and the project is still not finished.
Zhǐ只
yǒu有
xiǎo小
bàn半
r儿
de的
rén人
tóng同
yì意
zhè这
ge个
fāng方
àn案
。
Only a small minority of people agree with this plan.