半途而废 (bàn tú ér fèi)

Character breakdown

• 半 (bàn) · 5 strokes

  Depicts separating a cow (牛) into two halves (八).

• 途 (tú) · 10 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 余 represents the sound.

• 而 (ér) · 6 strokes

  Originally a pictograph of a beard, now written as 耏. The current use as a conjunction is a phonetic loan.

• 废 (fèi) · 8 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 广 represents the meaning and 发 represents the sound. Simplified form of 廢.

Usage

学习不能半途而废，一定要坚持下去。

to give up halfway (idiom); leave sth unfinished

xué xí bù néng bàn tú ér fèi ， yí dìng yào jiān chí xià qù 。