entry
half
/hæf/One of two approximately equal parts
From Proto-Germanic, via Old English half (A divided part or side).
from PIE root *skel- (1) "to cut," or perhaps a substratum word. Noun, adjective, and adverb all were in Old English....
from Proto-Germanic *halba- "something divided" (source also of Old Saxon halba , Old Norse halfr , Old Frisian, Middle...
+1 more sourcefrom Old English healf (“half”); as a noun, 'half', 'side', 'part'
from Middle English half, halfe
Word Ancestry
from PIE root *skel- (1) "to cut," or perhaps a substratum word. Noun, adjective, and adverb all were in Old English....
from Proto-Germanic *halba- "something divided" (source also of Old Saxon halba , Old Norse halfr , Old Frisian, Middle...
+1 more sourcefrom Old English healf (“half”); as a noun, 'half', 'side', 'part'
from Middle English half, halfe
Picture an ancient speaker dividing an object and naming not the neat mathematical fraction, but the “side” or “part” that had been cut off. Old English healf carried exactly that broader sense, which survives in behalf: originally, quite literally, “on the side of.” The deeper connection to Proto-Indo-European *skel-, “to cut,” is only a proposal; etymologists also suspect that the Germanic word may come from an unknown substratum source. Around 1200, English speakers began saying two and a half, preserving an Old English-style construction in which “half third” meant two and a half. Much later, in 1833, half-cocked moved from a gun’s prematurely released hammer to people who act before they are ready—a tiny word that still remembers both division and incomplete preparation.
The Story
Picture an ancient speaker dividing an object and naming not the neat mathematical fraction, but the “side” or “part” that had been cut off. Old English healf carried exactly that broader sense, which survives in behalf: originally, quite literally, “on the side of.” The deeper connection to Proto-Indo-European *skel-, “to cut,” is only a proposal; etymologists also suspect that the Germanic word may come from an unknown substratum source. Around 1200, English speakers began saying two and a half, preserving an Old English-style construction in which “half third” meant two and a half. Much later, in 1833, half-cocked moved from a gun’s prematurely released hammer to people who act before they are ready—a tiny word that still remembers both division and incomplete preparation.
Modern Usage
A quantity of about half an ounce of marijuana; also “somewhat” or “kind of”
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary entries for “half”
Kin & Kindred
From 'half'·A divided part or side
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wikipedia
Wiktionary