half – English noun declension

English noun forms of half

Noun: half
Singularhalf
Pluralhalves

Sample Sentences

  • I ate the smaller half of the apple.
  • You don’t know the half of it.
  • Of the passengers on the plane, half were English.
  • The cake was delicious: half was vanilla and half was chocolate.
  • Half (of) my friends live abroad.
  • I’ve bought some chocolate. You can have half.
  • One and a half miles equals a mile and a half.
  • Not half his riches known, and yet despised. (Comus) [1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:]
  • I and he, / Brothers in Art; a friendship so complete / Portion'd in halves between us, […] [1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Gardener’s Daughter; or, The Pictures”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 19:]
  • Both halves feature lyrics that are so teen-girly they sound like they were written in pink ink in a padlocked diary with hearts and frowny faces for punctuation. [2016 March 24, Darryl Sterdan, “ZAYN’s ‘Mind of Mine’ and Gwen Stefani’s ‘This is What the Truth Feels Like’ top this week’s new music”, in The Toronto Star, archived from the original on 17 Jun 2018:]
  • The Biden administration finalized the first national standard to limit dangerous “forever chemicals” found in nearly half of the drinking water in the United States. [2024 April 10, Jen Christiensen, “Biden administration sets first national standard to limit ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water”, in CNN:]
  • An association football match usually consists of two halves of 45 minutes each.
  • 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. [2011 September 16, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: New Zealand 83-7 Japan”, in BBC Sport:]
  • He came back with a pint of Guinness for me and a half of bitter for Wendy. [1968, John Braine, The Crying Game, Houghton Mifflin, page 11:]
  • I accepted a half of bitter from him. [1974, James Herriot, All Things Bright and Beautiful, St. Martin's Press,, →ISBN:]
  • 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." [2006, Bill Appleton, Wide Boy, Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie, →ISBN, page 168:]
  • Barrels came in firkins, nine gallons; kilderkins, eighteen gallons; halves, twenty-seven gallons; barrels, thirty-six gallons and hogsheads, fifty-four. [1987, Keith Dunstan, The Amber Nectar, Ringwood: Vicking O'Neil, page 81:]
  • Three-quarters minus a quarter is a half.
  • So for Richard and Barbara, Jeff and Kari, the impossibly varied collection of steps and halves that is another legacy of my father. [2016, Robert M. Herzog, A World Between:]
  • Tonight, we're offering the last of the Walking Liberty Halves for awhile:^([sic]) [2002 August 15, Fred A. Murphy, “FA: Last of the Walkers”, in rec.collecting.coins (Usenet), retrieved 03 Jan 2023:]

Etymology

1. From Middle English half, halfe from Old English healf (“half”); as a noun, 'half', 'side', 'part', from Proto-West Germanic *halb, from Proto-Germanic *halbaz.
2. Cognates
3. Cognate with Old Saxon, Old Frisian, and Old Dutch half, West Frisian heal, Dutch half, German halb, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish halv, Icelandic hálfur and Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐌱𐍃 (halbs). Compare halve, behalf. See: Middle English Nouns 'half', Old English Nouns 'healf', Icelandic Nouns 'hálfur'.

Verbs referencing "half"

English Nouns helve, English Nouns hapa, Latin Nouns culcita, Zulu Nouns uhhafu, English Nouns haafu.