halt

halt · verb¹

1. German · derived fromhalt“stop!”
2. Middle French · derived fromhalt
3. English todayhalt

From Middle French halt, from early modern German halt (“stop!”), imperative of halten (“to hold, to stop”). Doublet of hold (see that entry for more information).

halt · verb, noun²

1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*haltōn
2. Old English · inherited fromhealtian“to be lame, walk with a limp”
3. Middle English · inherited fromhalten
4. English todayhalt

From Middle English halten, from Old English healtian (“to be lame, walk with a limp”), from Proto-West Germanic *haltōn, related to *halt. English usage in the sense of 'make a halt' is from the noun. Cognate with North Frisian halte, Swedish halta.

halt · adjective, noun³

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*kel-“to beat, strike, cut, slash”
2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*kol-d-
3. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*haltaz“halt, lame”
4. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*halt
5. Old English · inherited fromhealt
6. Middle English · inherited fromhalt
7. English todayhalt

From Middle English halt, from Old English healt, from Proto-West Germanic *halt, from Proto-Germanic *haltaz (“halt, lame”), from Proto-Indo-European *kol-d-, from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to beat, strike, cut, slash”). Cognate with Danish halt, Swedish halt.

halt · noun⁴

1. French · borrowed fromhalte
2. English todayhalt

Borrowed from French halte. See also Etymology 2.

Words from the same roots