halve

English

Etymology

From Middle English halven, helven, from Old English hilfan, helfan, *hielfan (“to halve, divide in two”), from Proto-West Germanic *halbijan, from Proto-Germanic *halbijaną (“to halve”), from Proto-Germanic *halbaz (“half”).

Cognate with Middle Dutch halven (“to halve”), Middle High German halben, helben (“to halve”). Compare also West Frisian helte (“to halve”), Dutch halveren (“to halve”), German Low German halberen (“to halve”), German halbieren (“to halve”), Danish halvere (“to halve”), Swedish halvera (“to halve”).

Pronunciation

• (England, Wales, Australia, New Zealand) enPR: häv, IPA^(key): /hɑːv/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -ɑːv
• (General American) enPR: hăv, IPA^(key): /hæv/
  • Homophone: have (stressed)
  • Rhymes: -æv
• (New York City, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore) IPA^(key): /hɛəv/
• (Ireland, Scotland) IPA^(key): /hav/
  • Homophone: have (stressed)
  • Rhymes: -æv, -ɑːv

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To reduce to half the original amount.
   • 1960 December, “Talking of Trains: B.R. safety in 1959”, in Trains Illustrated, page 708:

     These show that since 1946 the fatality rate in train and movement accidents combined has been halved, [...].

   • 2011 November 23, Benjamin Wallace, “The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin”, in Wired‎^[1], San Francisco, Calif.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2 January 2025:

     The difficulty of each puzzle would increase as the number of miners increased, which would keep production to one block of transactions roughly every 10 minutes. In addition, the size of each block bounty would halve every 210,000 blocks—first from 50 bitcoins to 25, then from 25 to 12.5, and so on. Around the year 2140, the currency would reach its preordained limit of 21 million bitcoins.

3. (transitive) To divide into two halves.
4. (transitive) To make up half of.
   • 1855, Matthew Arnold, Faded Leaves:

     So far apart their lives are thrown / From the twin soul that halves their own.

5. (architecture, transitive) To join two pieces of timber etc. by cutting away each for half its thickness at the joining place, and fitting together.
6. (golf, transitive) In match play, to achieve a tie or draw on.
   • 1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major:

     I, of course, had no difficulty in doing likewise, and we halved the hole; but the awkward fact remained that I must now gain every hole to win the match, for my opponent's score was "nine up," and there only remained ten holes to play.

   • 2005, Bill Elliott, The Golf Bag Buddy: The Essential On-Course Reference, page 67:

     All that counts is whether you won, lost, or halved the match.

Synonyms

• (to divide into two halves): dichotomize, dimidiate; see also Thesaurus:bisect

Derived terms

• a problem shared is a problem halved
• a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved
• a trouble shared is a trouble halved
• cross-halving joint
• halvable
• halve it

Translations

to reduce to half of original

• Bulgarian: намалявам наполовина (namaljavam napolovina)
• Dutch: halveren (nl)
• Finnish: puolittaa (fi)
• Georgian: ანახევრებს (anaxevrebs), ნახევრად შეამცირებს (naxevrad šeamcirebs), ნახევრად ამცირებს (naxevrad amcirebs)
• German: halbieren (de)
• Greek: υποδιπλασιάζω (el) (ypodiplasiázo)
• Hawaiian: pālua
• Hungarian: elfelez (hu)
• Italian: dimezzare (it)
• Korean: 반으로 줄다 (baneuro julda)
• Old English: hielfan
• Portuguese: mear (pt)
• Russian: сокраща́ть наполови́ну impf (sokraščátʹ napolovínu), сократи́ть наполови́ну pf (sokratítʹ napolovínu)
• Spanish: demediar (es), dimidiar (es), reducir a la mitad
• Swedish: halvera (sv)
• Tausug: tunga
• Turkish: yarılamak (tr)
• Welsh: haneru (cy)

to divide in two equal parts

• Bulgarian: разполовявам (bg) (razpolovjavam)
• Czech: půlit (cs), rozpůlit (cs)
• Dutch: halveren (nl)
• Finnish: puolittaa (fi), panna puoliksi
• French: diviser en deux
• Georgian: ანახევრებს (anaxevrebs), შუაზე ჰყოფს (šuaze hq̇ops), შუაზე ყოფს (šuaze q̇ops)
• German: halbieren (de), hälften (de) (rare), zweiteilen (de)
• Hawaiian: pālua
• Hebrew: חָצָה (he) (khatsá)
• Hungarian: felez (hu), kettéoszt (hu), félbevág (hu)
• Italian: dimezzare (it)
• Korean: 이등분하다 (ideungbunhada)
• Latin: mediō, dimidiō
• Lithuanian: dalinti pusiau
• Low German:

  German Low German: halvern, tweibreken, tobreken

• Māori: weherua
• Old English: hielfan, twidǣlan
• Polish: połowić
• Portuguese: mear (pt), cortar ao meio
• Russian: дели́ть попола́м impf (delítʹ popolám), раздели́ть попола́м pf (razdelítʹ popolám)
• Serbo-Croatian: popoliviti
• Spanish: dimidiar (es), demediar (es), partir por la mitades, dividir en mitades
• Swedish: halvera (sv)
• Turkish: ikiye bölmek, yarıya bölmek
• Welsh: haneru (cy)

Anagrams

• Havel, Vahle

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈhalvə], [ˈhall̩]

Adjective

halve

1. plural and definite singular attributive of halv

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɦɑl.və/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑlvə

Adjective

halve

1. inflection of half:
   1. masculine/feminine singular attributive
   2. definite neuter singular attributive
   3. plural attributive

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

halve

1. alternative form of half

Etymology 2

Noun

halve

1. alternative form of helve

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

Adjective

halve

1. definite singular of halv
2. plural of halv

Etymology 2

From Old Norse halfa.

Noun

halve f or m (definite singular halva or halven, indefinite plural halver, definite plural halvene)

1. (a) half

Synonyms

• halvdel
• halvpart

References

• “halve” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Adjective

halve

1. definite singular of halv
2. plural of halv

Etymology 2

From Old Norse halfa.

Noun

halve f (definite singular halva, indefinite plural halver, definite plural halvene)

1. a half

Synonyms

• halvdel
• halvpart

References

• “halve” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.