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半々 (はんはん, hanhan) Japanese meaning: half and half | Kotomora

半はん々はん

は

ん

は

ん

Common word›Freq.FrequencyTop 50,000

Meanings

1

noun, noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no'

half and half; fifty-fifty

Describes an equal split, mixture, or probability. Often used with に or の.

成せい功こうの確かく率りつは半はん々はんだ。

The chances of success are fifty-fifty.

牛ぎゅう乳にゅうと水みずを半はん々はんに混まぜる。

Mix milk and water half and half.

Usage patterns

〈物もの〉〉を半々はんはんに分わけるto split something fifty-fifty
費ひ用ようを半はん々はんに分わけることにした。
We decided to split the cost fifty-fifty.
〈物もの〉〉を半々はんはんに混まぜるto mix two things in equal parts
牛ぎゅう乳にゅうと豆とう乳にゅうを半はん々はんに混まぜて飲のんでいる。
I mix milk and soy milk in equal parts and drink it.
半々はんはんの確率かくりつで〈事こと〉〉with a fifty-fifty chance of something
半はん々はんの確かく率りつで試し合あいに勝かてると思おもう。
I think we have a fifty-fifty chance of winning the match.

Kanji

半half, middle, odd number

Related words

五ご分ぶ五ご分ぶ
五分五分 emphasizes an equal chance or likelihood (e.g. odds of winning), while 半々 more broadly describes any equal split or mixture of two things.
フィフティーフィフティー
半々 is the native Japanese word for a fifty-fifty split and feels slightly more formal or written than the casual loanword フィフティーフィフティー.
五ご分ぶN1
半々 is the everyday, colloquial word for splitting something in half, whereas 五分 sounds slightly more formal or literary when expressing the same 50% idea.

Don't confuse with

半はん分ぶんN5
半分 means simply 'half' of a single thing, whereas 半々 describes a ratio in which two parts are equal to each other.

Written forms

半はん々はんUsage98%
Standard kanji spelling with iteration mark; high-frequency news ranking.
半はん半はんUsage2%
Variant without iteration mark; less common but still seen.

Etymology

Reduplication of 半 (half), literally 'half-half'.