大半
たいはん · taihan · JLPT N3 · noun
majority
🍰 大半 = big + half: more than half, so most of it
大 means big and 半 means half. A big half is more than half of something, which is why 大半 means the majority or most of it. Read it as taihan: tai is the on-reading of 大, as in 大会 (taikai, convention), and han is 半.
大 — pictograph of a person with arms outstretched
大 is a pictograph showing a person standing with arms and legs spread wide. The outstretched arms suggest 'big' or 'great', extending from the literal image of a large stance to abstract meanings like important or grand. It is one of the oldest characters, found on oracle bones.
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.