Why does 中止 also mean to cancel


中止 literally means to stop halfway (中で止まる). 中止 in Chinese also only means to
terminate something already started. How did 中止 get the meaning of cancelling
something not started at all in Japanese?




As aguijonazo pointed out, when the Japanese use the term 中止 for an event that
has not yet **opened** , it means that all the planning, preparation, and
processes that were **already started** to make the event happen have come to
an abrupt end. This makes perfect sense, at least from a Japanese perspective;
for most events, the duration of the preparation and promotion of the event is
much longer than the actual duration of the event itself (which is typically
only a few hours or days).

So it's merely a matter of what is regarded as the "start". I've never even
heard the opinion from a Japanese speaker that we shouldn't call it a 中止
because it hasn't officially opened yet. Such an opinion sounds fairly strange
and cruel to a Japanese speaker. (I don't know the specific history of when
this discrepancy originated in history, but it's not at all surprising, is
it?)

