half-hour

noun

A period of time equal to thirty minutes, half an hour.

Similar
30 minutes

Meanings

nounhalf-hour (plural half-hours)

plural half-hours · alternative halfhour

  1. A period of time equal to thirty minutes, half an hour.
  2. The time of thirty minutes past any particular hour.

    India’s half-hour zone dates back to colonial rule of India and the era when ever-faster steamships and trains were shrinking the world.

    2024 May 8, Dhruv Tikekar, “How India got stuck in its own unusual time zone”, in CNN
    1 more example

    The great clock of the castle sounded the half-hour—he had another half-hour [sense 1] to wait, ere the approach of Count Deckendorff; […]

    1807, [Miss Guion], chapter V, in The Three Germans. Mysteries Exemplified in the Life of Holstein of Lutztein. A German Romance. […], volume I, London: […] J[ames] F[letcher] Hughes, […], →OCLC, page 121

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna half of an hour

Similar
30 minutes

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Translations

Ancient Greek ἡμιώριον
  • ἡμιώριον (hēmiṓrion)period
Arabic نِصْف سَاعَة
  • نِصْف سَاعَة (niṣf sāʕa)period
Chinese Mandarin 半小時 /半小时
  • 半小時 /半小时 (bànxiǎoshí)period
Czech půlhodina
  • půlhodinaperiod
Dutch halfuur
  • halfuurperiod
Esperanto duonhoro, duona horo
  • duonhoroperiod
  • duona horoperiod
Finnish puoli tuntia, puolituntinen
  • puoli tuntiaperiod
  • puolituntinenperiod
  • puolitime
French demi-heure
  • demi-heureperiod
German halbe Stunde
  • halbe Stundeperiod
Greek μισάωρο, ημίωρο
  • μισάωρο (misáoro)period
  • ημίωρο (imíoro)period
Icelandic hálftími
  • hálftímiperiod
Irish leathuair
  • leathuairperiod
Italian mezz'ora
  • mezz'oraperiod
Japanese 半時間
  • 半時間 (hanjikan)period
Korean 반시간
  • 반시간 (bansigan)period
Latin sēmihōra
  • sēmihōraperiod
Lithuanian pusvalanduko
  • pusvalandukoperiod
Norwegian Bokmål halvtime
  • halvtimeperiod
Polish pół godziny
  • pół godzinyperiod
Portuguese meia hora, meia hora
  • meia horaperiod
  • meia horatime
Russian полчаса́
  • полчаса́ (polčasá)period
Swedish halvtimme, halvtimma
  • halvtimmeperiod
  • halvtimmaperiod
  • halvtime
Tamil அரை மணிநேரம்
  • அரை மணிநேரம் (arai maṇinēram)period
Turkish yarım saat
  • yarım saatperiod
Ukrainian півгоди́ни
  • півгоди́ни (pivhodýny)period
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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