Meanings
present singular third person halves · participle present halving · participle past halved · past halved
- transitiveTo reduce to half the original amount.
These show that since 1946 the fatality rate in train and movement accidents combined has been halved, [...].
1960 December, “Talking of Trains: B.R. safety in 1959”, in Trains Illustrated, page 7081 more example
The difficulty of each puzzle would increase as the number of miners increased, which would keep production to one block of transactions roughly every 10 minutes. In addition, the size of each block bounty would halve every 210,000 blocks—first from 50 bitcoins to 25, then from 25 to 12.5, and so on. Around the year 2140, the currency would reach its preordained limit of 21 million bitcoins.
2011 November 23, Benjamin Wallace, “The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin”, in Wired, San Francisco, Calif.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 02 Jan 2025 - transitiveTo make up half of.
So far apart their lives are thrown / From the twin soul that halves their own.
1855, Matthew Arnold, Faded Leaves - transitivegolfIn match play, to achieve a tie or draw on.
All that counts is whether you won, lost, or halved the match.
2005, Bill Elliott, The Golf Bag Buddy: The Essential On-Course Reference, page 671 more example
I, of course, had no difficulty in doing likewise, and we halved the hole; but the awkward fact remained that I must now gain every hole to win the match, for my opponent's score was "nine up," and there only remained ten holes to play.
1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo divide into two halves.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*halbaz“half”
- Proto-Germanic*halbijaną“to halve”
- Proto-West Germanic*halbijan
- Old Englishhilfan
- Middle Englishhalven
- Englishhalve
From Middle English halven, helven, from Old English hilfan, helfan, *hielfan (“to halve, divide in two”), from Proto-West Germanic *halbijan, from Proto-Germanic *halbijaną (“to halve”), from Proto-Germanic *halbaz (“half”). Cognate with Middle Dutch halven (“to halve”), Middle High German halben, helben (“to halve”). Compare also West Frisian helte (“to halve”), Dutch halveren (“to halve”), German Low German halberen (“to halve”), German halbieren (“to halve”), Danish halvere (“to halve”), Swedish halvera (“to halve”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian намалявам наполовина, разполовявам
- намалявам наполовина (namaljavam napolovina)to reduce to half of original
- разполовявам (razpolovjavam)to divide in two equal parts
Czech půlit, rozpůlit
- půlitto divide in two equal parts
- rozpůlitto divide in two equal parts
Dutch halveren, halveren
- halverento reduce to half of original
- halverento divide in two equal parts
Finnish puolittaa, puolittaa
- puolittaato reduce to half of original
- puolittaato divide in two equal parts
- panna puoliksito divide in two equal parts
French diviser en deux
- diviser en deuxto divide in two equal parts
German halbieren, halbieren
- halbierento reduce to half of original
- halbierento divide in two equal parts
- hälftento divide in two equal parts
- zweiteilento divide in two equal parts
Greek υποδιπλασιάζω
- υποδιπλασιάζω (ypodiplasiázo)to reduce to half of original
Hawaiian pālua, pālua
- pāluato reduce to half of original
- pāluato divide in two equal parts
Hebrew חָצָה
- חָצָה (khatsá)to divide in two equal parts
Hungarian elfelez, felez
- elfelezto reduce to half of original
- felezto divide in two equal parts
- kettéosztto divide in two equal parts
- félbevágto divide in two equal parts
Italian dimezzare, dimezzare
- dimezzareto reduce to half of original
- dimezzareto divide in two equal parts
Korean 반으로 줄다, 이등분하다
- 반으로 줄다 (baneuro julda)to reduce to half of original
- 이등분하다 (ideungbunhada)to divide in two equal parts
Latin mediō, dimidiō
- mediōto divide in two equal parts
- dimidiōto divide in two equal parts
Lithuanian dalinti pusiau
- dalinti pusiauto divide in two equal parts
Māori weherua
- weheruato divide in two equal parts
Polish połowić
- połowićto divide in two equal parts
Portuguese mear, mear
- mearto reduce to half of original
- mearto divide in two equal parts
- cortar ao meioto divide in two equal parts
Russian сокраща́ть наполови́ну, сократи́ть наполови́ну
- сокраща́ть наполови́ну (sokraščátʹ napolovínu)to reduce to half of original
- сократи́ть наполови́ну (sokratítʹ napolovínu)to reduce to half of original
- дели́ть попола́м (delítʹ popolám)to divide in two equal parts
- раздели́ть попола́м (razdelítʹ popolám)to divide in two equal parts
Spanish demediar, dimidiar
- demediarto reduce to half of original
- dimidiarto reduce to half of original
- reducir a la mitadto reduce to half of original
- dimidiarto divide in two equal parts
- demediarto divide in two equal parts
- partir por la mitadesto divide in two equal parts
- dividir en mitadesto divide in two equal parts
Swedish halvera, halvera
- halverato reduce to half of original
- halverato divide in two equal parts
Turkish yarılamak, ikiye bölmek
- yarılamakto reduce to half of original
- ikiye bölmekto divide in two equal parts
- yarıya bölmekto divide in two equal parts
Welsh haneru, haneru
- haneruto reduce to half of original
- haneruto divide in two equal parts
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with halve
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
halve. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/halve
“halve.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/halve. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “halve,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/halve.
Source: halve on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.