dimidium dimidiumque

noun

half and half (mixture of ale and porter, or similar)

OriginLatin dimidium →
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Meanings

noundimidium dimidiumque (uncountable)
  1. UKhumorousobsoleteslanguncountablehalf and half (mixture of ale and porter, or similar)

    And when the young Anglo-Roma Gents went out between the acts, in order to imbibe dimidium dimidiumque, or gingiber, (doubtless the ginger-beer of the moderns,) they received at the theatre door […]

    1848, Albert Smith, Angus Bethune Reach, The Man in the Moon, volume 3, page 107
    1 more example

    I was still fresh, which was something; a trifle warm perhaps, and well disposed towards a pint of the dimidium dimidiumque of the ancients had such been available, but, in default of nectar, I sought another comforter, […]

    1893, Charles Thomas Paske, Frederick George Aflalo, Myamma: A Retrospect of Life and Travel in Lower Burmah, page 153

Origin

  1. Latindimidium“half”
  2. Englishdimidium dimidiumque

Pseudo-Latinism, derived from reduplication of Latin dimidium (“half”) with -que (“and”) as a humorous English-to-Latin calque of half and half, once used by students.

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

dimidium dimidiumque. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dimidium%20dimidiumque

MLA

“dimidium dimidiumque.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dimidium%20dimidiumque. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dimidium dimidiumque,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dimidium%20dimidiumque.

Source: dimidium dimidiumque on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.