half brother

See also: halfbrother and half-brother

English

Alternative forms

• half-brother, halfbrother

Etymology

From Middle English half-brother, equivalent to half- +‎ brother. Cognate with Dutch halfbroer (“halfbrother”), German Halbbruder (“halfbrother”), Danish halvbroder (“halfbrother”), Swedish halvbroder, halvbror (“halfbrother”), Icelandic hálfbróðir (“halfbrother”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌhæfˈbɹʌðɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

half brother (plural half brothers or half brethren)

1. A male sibling sharing a single parent, as distinguished from a full brother or brother-german, from a step-brother, or from a brother-like figure such as a blood brother.
2. (horse racing) A male half sibling (same dam, different sires).

Hypernyms

• relative; sibling; half sibling, half-sibling

Hyponyms

• (a half-brother sharing the same mother): maternal half brother, maternal half-brother
• (a half-brother sharing the same father): paternal half-brother

Derived terms

• half brother-in-law

Related terms

• half cousin, half-cousin
• half sister, half-sister
• half uncle, half-uncle

Translations

male half-sibling

• Asturian: hermanastru (ast) m, mediohermanu (ast) m
• Breton: hantervreur (br) m
• Bulgarian: полубрат (bg) m (polubrat)
• Catalan: germanastre (ca) m
• Cebuano: hablos
• Cornish: hanter-broder m
• Czech: nevlastní bratr m
• Dutch: halfbroer (nl) m, halfbroeder m
• Esperanto: duonfrato
• Faroese: hálvbróðir m, hálvbeiggi m
• Finnish: velipuoli (fi)
• French: demi-frère (fr) m
• Galician: medio irmán m
• Georgian: ნახევარძმა (naxevarʒma)
• German: Halbbruder (de) m
• Greek: ετεροθαλής αδελφός m (eterothalís adelfós)
• Hindi: सौतेला भाई m (sautelā bhāī)
• Hungarian: féltestvér (hu)
• Icelandic: hálfbróðir (is) m
• Irish: leathdheartháir m, leasdeartháir m
• Italian: mezzo fratello, fratellastro (it) m
• Korean: 의붓 형제 (uibut hyeongje)
• Latin: semifrater, semigermanus
• Latvian: pusbrālis m
• Macedonian: полубрат m (polubrat)
• Malay: abang tiri (elder), adik tiri (younger)
• Maltese: ħu tan-nofs
• Manx: lieh-vraar m
• Norman: d'mié-fréthe m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: halvbror m

  Nynorsk: halvbror m

• Persian: برادر ناتنی (barâdar-e nâtani)
• Polish: przyrodni brat m
• Portuguese: meio-irmão (pt) m
• Romanian: frate pe jumătate m, frate vitreg m
• Scottish Gaelic: leth-bhràthair m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: полу̀брат m

  Latin: polùbrat (sh) m

• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: połbratr m

• Spanish: medio hermano (es) m, hermanastro (es) m
• Swedish: halvbror (sv), halvbroder (sv)
• Taos: pòpóna (older), pʼǫ́yna (younger)
• Telugu: సవతి సోదరుడు (savati sōdaruḍu)
• Urdu: سوتیلا بھائی m (soutela bhai)
• Welsh: hanner brawd (cy) m

son of the same mother but a different father

• Bulgarian: полубрат (bg) m (polubrat) (hypernym)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 同母異父 / 同母异父 (tung⁴ mou⁵ ji⁶ fu⁶)

  Hokkien: 同母異父 / 同母异父 (tông-bó-ī-hū / tông-bú-ī-hū), 仝母各爸 (kāng-bó-koh-pēe)

  Mandarin: 同母異父 / 同母异父 (tóngmǔ yìfù) (+ words for elder/younger brother)

  Xiang: 共娘隔爺 / 共娘隔爷 (gong⁴ nyian² ge⁶ ia²)

• Japanese: 胤違い (たねちがい, tanechigai), 胤変わり (たねがわり, tanegawari), 異父 (ja) (いふ, ifu) (+ words for elder/younger brother)
• Latin: frater uterinus, uterinus
• Russian: единоутро́бный брат (ru) m (jedinoutróbnyj brat)
• Vietnamese: (+ words for elder/younger brother) cùng mẹ khác cha, (paternal) (+ words for elder/younger brother) cùng cha khác mẹ

son of the same father but a different mother

• Bulgarian: полубрат (bg) m (polubrat) (hypernym)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 同父異母 / 同父异母 (tung⁴ fu⁶ ji⁶ mou⁵), 同父异母 (tung⁴ fu⁶ ji⁶ mou⁵)

  Hokkien: 同父異母 / 同父异母, 同父异母 (tông-hū-ī-bió), 仝爸各母 (zh-min-nan) (kāng-pē-koh-bú / kāng-pē-koh-bó / kāng-pēe-koh-bó)

  Mandarin: 同父異母 / 同父异母 (tóngfù yìmǔ), 同父异母 (tóngfù yìmǔ) (+ words for elder/younger brother)

  Xiang: 共爺隔娘 / 共爷隔娘 (gong⁴ ia² ge⁶ nyian²), 共爷隔娘 (gong⁴ ia² ge⁶ nyian²)

• Japanese: 腹違い (はらちがい, harachigai), 畑違い (ja) (はたけちがい, hatakechigai), 異腹 (ja) (ことはら, koto hara, いふく, ifuku), 異母 (ja) (いぼ, ibo) (+ words for elder/younger brother)
• Latin: frater consanguineus, frater agnatus, agnatus
• Russian: единокро́вный брат (ru) m (jedinokróvnyj brat)
• Vietnamese: (+ words for elder/younger brother) cùng cha khác mẹ

See also

• stepbrother