WordDisk
  • Reading
    • Shortcuts
      •   Home
      •   All Articles
      •   Read from Another Site
      Sources
      • Wikipedia
      • Simple Wikipedia
      • VOA Learning English
      • Futurity
      • The Conversation
      • MIT News
      • Harvard Gazette
      • Cambridge News
      • YDS/YÖKDİL Passages
      Topics
      • Technology
      • Engineering
      • Business
      • Economics
      • Human
      • Health
      • Energy
      • Biology
      • Nature
      • Space
  •  Log in
  •  Sign up
5.41
History
Add

half noun [ hɑːf ]

• either of two equal or corresponding parts into which something is or can be divided.
• "two and a half years"
Similar: fifty per cent of, bisection of,
Opposite: all,

half predeterminer

• an amount equal to a half.
• "half an hour"

half adverb

• to the extent of half.
• "the glass was half full"
Origin: Old English half, healf, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch half and German halb (adjectives). The earliest meaning of the Germanic base was ‘side’, also a noun sense in Old English.

a — and a half

• used to indicate that one considers a particular person or thing to be an impressive example of their kind.
"Aunt Edie was a woman and a half"

half a chance

• the slightest opportunity.
"given half a chance he can make anything work"

the half of it

• the most important part or aspect of something.
"you don't know the half of it"

half past —

• thirty minutes after (a specified hour).
"they arrived at about half-past three"

not do things by halves

• do things thoroughly or extravagantly.

not half

• not at all; in no way.
"the players are not half bad"

too — by half

• used to emphasize something considered bad.
"the idea seems too superstitious by half"



2025 WordDisk