semifinal

See also: semi-final

English

Alternative forms

• semi-final

Etymology

From Latin semifinalis, equivalent to semi- +‎ final.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪnəl

Noun

semifinal (plural semifinals)

1. (sports) A playoff in the round with only four players or teams left, the stage before the final.
   • 2008 June 14, The Associated Press, “Federer Extends Streak”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Roger Federer extended his grasscourt streak to 57 matches with a victory over Marcos Baghdatis and will play Nicolas Kiefer in the semifinals of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany.

   • 2008, Pete Sampras, Peter Bodo, Pete Sampras: A Champion's Mind, published 2010, unnumbered page:

     In the 1991 Wimbledon semifinal between Michael Stich and Stefan Edberg, there was just one service break in the entire match, and the guy whose serve was broken, Stich, ended up winning the match!

   • 2024 September 6, Jordan Valinsky, “Ticket prices for the all-American men’s matchup at the US Open are surging”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     The highly anticipated all-American matchup between Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe — marking the first US Open semifinals between two US men in nearly 20 years — will cost you quite a few Honey Deuces to attend.

   • 2024 September 9, Michael Dominski, “Everything that happened on Day 9 of the US Open with Navarro, Fritz and Tiafoe advancing to the semifinal”, in The New York Times‎^[3]:

     Badosa has the slightly more explosive power, but if Navarro can redirect the pace of Badosa’s shots effectively, she could well be on the way to a first Grand Slam semifinal.

2. A competition that narrows a field of contestants (semifinalists) to a set of finalists, for a subsequent final.

Synonyms

• last four
• semi

Derived terms

• semifinalist

Related terms

• final
• quarterfinal

Descendants

• → Swedish: semifinal
• → Turkish: semifinal

Translations

competition

• Arabic: الدور قبل النهائي
• Bulgarian: полуфина́л (bg) m (polufinál)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 四強 / 四强 (sei³ koeng⁴)

  Mandarin: 半決賽 / 半决赛 (zh) (bànjuésài), 四強 / 四强 (zh) (sìqiáng)

• Czech: semifinále (cs) n
• Danish: semifinale (da) c
• Dutch: halve finale (nl)
• Estonian: poolfinaal
• Finnish: välierä (fi), semifinaali (fi)
• French: demi-finale (fr) m
• Georgian: ნახევარფინალი (naxevarpinali)
• German: Halbfinale (de) n, Semifinale (de) n
• Greek: ημιτελικός (el) m (imitelikós)
• Hungarian: elődöntő (hu)
• Irish: cluiche leathcheannais m
• Italian: semifinale (it) f
• Japanese: 準決勝 (ja) (じゅんけっしょう, junkesshō), 四強 (よんきょう, yonkyō)
• Korean: 준결승(準決勝) (ko) (jun'gyeolseung), 4강 (sagang)
• Latin: semifinale, semifinalis
• Macedonian: полуфина́ле n (polufinále)
• Polish: półfinał (pl) m
• Portuguese: semifinal f, meia-final f
• Russian: полуфина́л (ru) m (polufinál)
• Spanish: semifinal
• Swahili: nusu fainali (sw)
• Swedish: semifinal (sv)
• Tagalog: malapangwakas, mala-pangwakas
• Thai: รองสุดท้าย (rong-sùd-táai)
• Turkish: (rare) dömifinal (tr), semifinal, yarı final (tr)
• Ukrainian: півфіна́л m (pivfinál)
• Vietnamese: bán kết (vi)

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˌsɛ.mi.fiˈnal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˌse.mi.fiˈnal]

Noun

semifinal f (plural semifinals)

1. semifinal

Derived terms

• semifinalista

Further reading

• “semifinal”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “semifinal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “semifinal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “semifinal” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• semi-final (pre-standardization spelling, now a misspelling)

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌsẽ.mi.fiˈnaw/ [ˌsẽ.mi.fiˈnaʊ̯]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌsẽ.mi.fiˈnaw/ [ˌsẽ.mi.fiˈnaʊ̯]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌse.mi.fiˈnaw/ [ˌse.mi.fiˈnaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɨˌmi.fiˈnal/ [sɨˌmi.fiˈnaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɨˌmi.fiˈnal/ [sɨˌmi.fiˈnaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɨˌmi.fiˈna.li/

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: se‧mi‧fi‧nal

Noun

semifinal f (plural semifinais)

1. (sports) semifinal (penultimate stage of a competition)

   Synonym: meia-final

Spanish

Etymology

From semi- +‎ final.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /semifiˈnal/ [se.mi.fiˈnal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: se‧mi‧fi‧nal

Noun

semifinal f (plural semifinales)

1. semifinal, semi-final

   Synonym: (colloquial) semi

   • 2021 August 3, Jill Martin, “EE.UU. supera a España y avanza a semifinales del baloncesto masculino”, in CNN en Español‎^[4]:

     La selección masculina de baloncesto de EE.UU. avanzó a las semifinales de los Juegos Olímpicos con una victoria por 95-81 contra España.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “semifinal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English semifinal, equivalent to semi- +‎ final.

Noun

semifinal c

1. semifinal

Declension

Declension of semifinal

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	semifinal	semifinals
	definite	semifinalen	semifinalens
plural	indefinite	semifinaler	semifinalers
	definite	semifinalerna	semifinalernas

References

• semifinal in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• semifinal in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• semifinal in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from English semifinal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /seˈmi.fi.nal/
• Hyphenation: se‧mi‧fi‧nal

Noun

semifinal (definite accusative semifinali, plural semifinaller)

1. (sports) semifinal

   Synonyms: dömifinal, yarı final

   • 1971, Milliyet Gazetesi:

     Olimpiyad şampiyonu Davenport ile semifinalde yanşan Milburn mükemmel bir koşu çıkartarak...

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Related terms

• define
• definisyon
• definitif
• dömifinal
• final
• finalist
• finalite
• finalize
• finans
• finansal
• finansman
• finansör
• finiş
• fino
• prefinansman
• rafine
• rafineri
• röfinansman