half-dollar

noun

A coin worth one half of a dollar, typically 50 cents.

Meanings

nounhalf-dollar (plural half-dollars)

plural half-dollars

  1. A coin worth one half of a dollar, typically 50 cents.
    1 more example

    The Crescent Road sheds had a favourite locomotive - Stanier 4MT tank engine 42626 (known by Bolton locomen as 'two half-dollars') - and the shed authorities quietly arranged for it to be put to one side for a few days, while the ardent schoolboys set to work cleaning it. [This may be inspired by the number 42626 where 26 occurs twice; the half-crown was worth two shillings and sixpence - 2s 6d or 2/6.]

    2023 March 8, Paul Salveson, “Fond farewells to two final trains...”, in RAIL, number 978, page 55

Origin

  1. Englishhalf-
  2. Proto-Germanic*dalą
  3. Proto-West Germanic*dal
  4. Old High Germantal
  5. Middle High Germantal
  6. GermanTal
  7. GermanTaler
  8. Middle Low Germandāler
  9. Dutchdaler
  10. Englishdollar
  11. Englishhalf-dollar

From half- + dollar.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Swedish halvdollarmynt
  • halvdollarmynta coin worth one half of a dollar
Cite this entry
APA

half-dollar. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/half-dollar

MLA

“half-dollar.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/half-dollar. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “half-dollar,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/half-dollar.

Source: half-dollar on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.