couper la poire en deux

To meet the other side halfway

Meeting halfway on a disagreement so both sides come away reasonably satisfied.

On n'était pas d'accord sur le prix, alors on a coupé la poire en deux.

We couldn't agree on the price, so we split the difference.

First shows up in Littré's dictionary in 1863 as 'partager la poire en deux', used when two sides negotiating over money agreed to split it down the middle. Some link the choice of pear to the fruit's status as a precious, refined gift at the time, though nobody's fully sure why that fruit stuck.