half-hour

/hˈæfˌaʊɚ/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.98 in modern English

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

noun

"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; […]"
"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."

From half- + hour.

half-hours (plural) halfhour (alternative)

half-hourlong half-hourly

30 minutes

Questions

How do you pronounce half-hour?

The recorded pronunciation is /hˈæfˌaʊɚ/.

What does half-hour mean?

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

Where does half-hour come from?

From half- + hour.

How to pronounce half-hour

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “half-hour”.

Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/hˈæfˌaʊɚ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.

Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “half-hour”.

Repeat and practice — Say “half-hour” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.