过半
guò bàn · HSK 7
more than half
🌗 过 = exceed + 半 = half, so 过半 = passing the halfway mark, more than half
过 carries the sense of going past or exceeding; 半 is half. Stick them together and you get crossing past the 50 percent line. The 月-like right side of 半 also shows up in many split-down-the-middle words.
过 — 辶 walk radical + 呙 (phonetic)
过 combines the walking radical 辶, suggesting motion or passage, with 呙 serving as the phonetic component. Originally it depicted crossing or passing by on foot, which extended to meanings like 'to pass,' 'to cross over,' and later 'past' or 'excessive.' The simplified form replaces the traditional 過.
半 — 八 (split) + 牛 (ox/cow)
半 originally depicted an ox (牛) being divided in two, shown by the splitting strokes 八 on top. The image of cleaving an ox down the middle gave rise to the meaning 'half' or 'to divide into halves'. The modern sense of 'half' or 'partial' comes directly from this ancient act of splitting.