One gesture runs through this family: splitting in two, and stepping across the divide. To cross a road is to pass over its midline; half is what you get when you split a whole; midnight is the night cut exactly in two. Even the skirt belongs here, it covers the lower half of the body. Learn the cut and every word falls into place. All verified against pealim, niqqud included.
The same root runs through the verb system. Each binyan is a voice: it bends the one idea into active, passive, causative or reciprocal. Tap to hear.
Only the pa'al is lexicalized as a verb here: the plain act of crossing. The other binyanim are not filled for this root; its richness lives in the nouns, where the "half" sense spreads into time, clothing and quantity.
Same root letters, different noun moulds (mishkalim). The mould tells you the function: who does it, the act of doing it, or the thing produced.
Strip the prefixes, suffixes and vowels. Three consonants remain, and the meaning lives there.