Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

halfling

/ˈhæflɪŋ/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.24 in modern English

Syllables: halfling
IPA: /ˈhæflɪŋ/

15

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

1

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A fictional small humanoid creature featuring in fantasy fiction; a hobbit.

noun

A fictional humanoid born of a human parent and a parent of another race in fantasy fiction.

noun

A half-grown person, between a child and an adult.

Example Sentences

"Often it had been my fate to accompany the pick of the knight errantry of Whinnyliggate on such quests—for, though Nance was about my own age, she had become a reigning belle while I was but a halfling boy."

Etymology

From half + -ling. Sense 3 ("half-grown young person") is attested to 1794. It was then used by J.R.R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings (1954) as an alternative reference to members of his hobbit race. Hobbits were used in the original 1974 releases of the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, but in later editions they were changed to "halflings" for legal reasons, as being a pre-existing word rather than one invented by Tolkien.

Word Breakdown

Suffix: half

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈhæflɪŋ/

Inflected Forms

halflings (plural)

Questions

How do you pronounce halfling?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈhæflɪŋ/.
What does halfling mean?: A fictional small humanoid creature featuring in fantasy fiction; a hobbit.
Where does halfling come from?: From half + -ling. Sense 3 ("half-grown young person") is attested to 1794. It was then used by J.R.R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings (1954) as an alternative reference to members of his hobbit race. Hobbits were used in the original 1974 releases of the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, but in later editions they were changed to "halflings" for legal reasons, as being a pre-existing word rather than one invented by Tolkien.

How to pronounce halfling

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “halfling”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈhæflɪŋ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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Repeat and practice — Say “halfling” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.