little while; short time
Only with reading はんとき
Used for a brief, indefinite period of time. Often appears in expressions like 半時も経たないうちに (in less than a short while).
The rain will probably stop in a little while.
Let's rest for a short while and then go out.
an hour
Archaic meaning; in historical contexts, 半時 could refer to a full hour (half of an old Japanese temporal unit). Not used in modern Japanese.
In classical texts, 半時 can refer to an hour.
Only with reading はんじ
Rare reading はんじ for 'half an hour'. Not commonly used; modern Japanese prefers 半時間 (はんじかん).
When read as はんじ, 半時 can mean half an hour.
about half an hour; roughly thirty minutes
Standard kanji spelling for the reading はんとき.
Compound of 半 (half) and 時 (time/hour). The reading はんとき is the standard modern form; はんじ is a rare alternative reading. The archaic sense 'an hour' likely derives from older timekeeping systems where 一時 (いっとき) was about two hours, making 半時 roughly one hour.