half

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /hɑːf/, US /hæf/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English half, inherited from Old English half (“side, part”) (West Saxon healf),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *halba- (“something divided”).^[2] Its relatives include Dutch half, German halb and Old Norse hálfr.^[2][5][6] Its further origin is uncertain:^[5][2] Etymonline suggests Proto-Indo-European *skel- (“to cut”) or a substrate word,^[2] and Klein and Merriam-Webster's Unabridged compare Latin scalpere (“to cut, scratch”).^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Side, one of the two sides of something: about 700, in early Mercian glosses.^[3][9] The word did not necessarily mean an equal part, and this sense survives in behalf.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Old English already had the noun, the adjective and the adverb.^[2] The sense “one of two equal parts” is recorded about 950,^[9] and the old sense “side” died out in the 16th century.^[6] Old English used phrases like þridda healf, literally “half third”, for “two and a half”, as German still does; the construction two and a half is first recorded about 1200.^[2] Half past in telling the time is from 1750.^[2][9] In Scotland the half is often put before the next hour, as in German.^[2] Not half first meant “far from enough” (1583) and later, in slang, “very much”.^[9] Half-brother is from before 1338^[3] and half-sister from the 13th century, both probably after Old Norse.^[5] At half cock comes from a flintlock pistol that misfired when its cock was raised only halfway (mid-18th century),^[10] and half-cocked “too hasty” is from 1833.^[2] The verb halve dates from the 13th century.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 700 – Old English half, side.^[3]
• 811 – adjective.^[3][9]
• 944 – adverb.^[3][9]
• c. 950 – one of two equal parts.^[9]
• c. 1200 – two and a half.^[2]
• 13th century – half-sister and halve.^[5]
• 1583 – not half.^[9]
• 1750 – half past the hour.^[2][9]
• 1786 – half dollar (US).^[3]
• 1833 – half-cocked.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Either of two equal parts that make up a whole.
2. Either of the two periods of play in some games.
3. (US) A fifty-cent coin.
4. (sports) A halfback.

Adjective

1. Being one of two equal parts, or roughly so.
2. Partial or incomplete.

Adverb

1. To the extent of exactly or nearly fifty percent.
2. Partly; not completely.

Word family

• halfness
• half-world
• half-cock
• half-solid
• half-length
• halfback
• halfbeak
• halfhearted

Related words

• behalf
• halve
• halfpenny
• shelf
• scalpel

Usage notes

The AHD notes that a half, half of and half a are all correct but can differ: a half day usually means half a working day, while half a day may mean half of any day.^[11]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
5. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin