half

• 'arf, ha'f

From Middle English half, halfe from Old English healf (“half”); as a noun, 'half', 'side', 'part', from Proto-Germanic *halbaz; akin to Old Saxon, Old Frisian, and Dutch half, West Frisian heal, German halb, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian halv, Icelandic hálfur and Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐌱𐍃 (halbs). Compare halve, behalf.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /hɑːf/

• Audio

  (file)

Rhymes: -ɑːf

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /hæf/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

Rhymes: -æf

• (Ireland, Wales) IPA^(key): /haf/

half (not comparable)

1. Consisting of a half (1/2, 50%).

   a half bushel; a half hour; a half dollar; a half view

2. Consisting of some indefinite portion resembling a half; approximately a half, whether more or less; partial; imperfect.

   a half dream; half knowledge

   • Alfred Tennyson:

     Assumed from thence a half consent.

3. (of a sibling) Having one parent (rather than two) in common.

   A half brother or half sister

4. (rare, of a relative other than a sibling) Related through one common grandparent or ancestor rather than two.

   A half uncle or half aunt or half cousin

• (consisting of a moiety, or half): The adjective and noun are often united to form a compound.

• (consisting of a moiety, or half): hemi-, semi-, demi-

See also those listed at Category:English words prefixed with half-.

• → Hawaiian: hapa
  • → English: hapa
• → Maori: hāwhe

half (not comparable)

1. In two equal parts or to an equal degree.
2. In some part approximating a half.
3. Partially; imperfectly.

   half-colored; half done; half-hearted; half persuaded; half conscious

   He does sometimes half wish to change his life, but it is too difficult.

   • John Dryden:

     Half loth and half consenting.

   • Nehemiah 13:24:

     Their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod.

half (plural halves)

1. One of two usually roughly equal parts into which anything may be divided, or considered as divided.

   I ate the slightly smaller half of the apple.

   You don't know the half of it.

   • (Can we date this quote?), John Milton:

     Not half his riches known, and yet despised.

   • (Can we date this quote?), Alfred Tennyson:

     A friendship so complete Portioned in halves between us

   1. (sports) One of the two opposite parts of the playing field of various sports, in which each starts the game.
   • 2011 September 16, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: New Zealand 83-7 Japan”, in BBC Sport‎:

     However, the hosts hit back and hit back hard, first replacement hooker Andrew Hore sliding over, then Williams careering out of his own half and leaving several defenders for dead before flipping the ball to Nonu to finish off a scintillating move.

2. Half of a standard measure; frequently used (Britain) for half a pint of beer or cider.
   • 1968 (Britain), John Braine, The Crying Game, Houghton Mifflin, page 11,

     He came back with a pint of Guinness for me and a half of bitter for Wendy.

   • 1974 (Britain), James Herriot, All Things Bright and Beautiful, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN,

     I accepted a half of bitter from him.

   • 2006 (Britain), Bill Appleton, Wide Boy, Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie, →ISBN, page 168,

     I went to the bar where I bought a pint and two large brandies. ... "Not brandy," she replied, "but I could use a long drink - maybe a half of lager."

3. (preceded by “a” or a number) The fraction obtained by dividing 1 by 2.

   Three-quarters minus a quarter is a half.

4. (obsolete) Part; side; behalf.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wyclif to this entry?)

   • (Can we date this quote?), Geoffrey Chaucer:

     The four halves of the house

5. Any of the three terms at Eton College, for Michaelmas, Lent, and summer.
6. (slang) A half sibling.
   • 2016, Robert M. Herzog, A World Between

     So for Richard and Barbara, Jeff and Kari, the impossibly varied collection of steps and halves that is another legacy of my father.

7. (Britain, archaic) A child ticket.

• (fraction obtained by dividing 1 by 2): ½

half (third-person singular simple present halves, present participle halving, simple past and past participle halved)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To halve.

half

1. (Britain, Ireland) A half-hour after, thirty minutes after (used with the number of the hour).

   half one ― half past one, 1:30

• half-

• half in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

From Middle Dutch half, from Old Dutch *half, from Proto-Germanic *halbaz.

Cognate with English half, German halb, West Frisian heal, Danish halv.

• IPA^(key): /ɦɑlf/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: half
• Rhymes: -ɑlf

half (not comparable)

1. half
2. (with numbers) half before the next whole

   half tien

   half past nine (i.e. half of the tenth hour)

   anderhalf

   one and a half (half before two, with ander originally meaning second)

• IPA^(key): /half/

half

1. First-person singular preterite of helfen.
2. Third-person singular preterite of helfen.