half
noun, adjective and adverb · one of two equal parts of something
- HAFhæf (stressed)
- HAHFhɑːf (stressed)
- US /hæf/HAF Recorded voice
- UK /hɑːf/HAHF Your device’s voice
How to pronounce half
Half is pronounced HAF in American English and HAHF in British English. It is one syllable, and the L is silent in both. The plural, halves, is HAVZ (US) or HAHVZ (UK).
- 1 syllable
- Stress on HAF
- US and UK IPA
- Checked in Cambridge and Oxford
IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. The recording is American English.
Half, sound by sound
Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.
US American English/hæf/
HAFstressed
- /h/as in hat
- /æ/as in cat
- /f/as in fall
UK British English/hɑːf/
HAHFstressed
- /h/as in hat
- /ɑː/as in father
- /f/as in fall
Say half yourself
Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes half, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.
Tip. No L sound. US: the a in cat. UK: the ah in father.
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Common half pronunciation mistakes
What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say HAF.
Not
HALLFSaying the L. It is silent: go from the vowel straight to F.
Not
HAWLFReading al as in all or ball. Half has the a in cat (US) or the ah in father (UK), and no L.
Not
HAL-ufAdding a vowel before the F. It is one short syllable.
Half in a sentence
Hear each one, slow it down, then say it. Words change a little when they join others, so practise them in sentences too.
I will be there in half an hour.
Half of the class was sick today.
We only paid half the price.
Why is the l in half silent?
Half is an old native word, healf in Old English, and the L was said then. English later lost the L in a few words where it came between A and F or M: half, calf, calm, palm. The spelling never changed.
Not every al word drops its L. In halt, salt and talc you hear it. So you cannot read half from its letters; you learn it as a sound.
The vowel shows the accent. Americans say half with the a in cat. In southern British English the a is long, as in father, the same as in laugh and staff.
Words that sound like half
Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.
Say words like half out loud with Slova
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