halber
German, postposition/ˈhalbəʁ/
halber is a German postposition meaning “for the sake of” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a strong/mixed nominative masculine singular of halb. The German Wiktionary defines it as “wegen, um … willen, veranlasst durch”.
What does halber mean in English?
adverb
- 1
archaica half-hour before, thirty minutes before (used with the number of the following hour)
Wir treffen uns um halber zwei.
postposition
- 1
for the sake of.
der Vollständigkeit halber
adjective
- 1
masculinestrong/mixed nominative masculine singular
- 2
femininestrong genitive/dative feminine singular
- 3
strong genitive plural
suffix
- 1
Creates adverbs that give a reason or purpose, or express that something is met or complied with, for the sake of
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
adverb: 1. halb
postposition: 1. wegen, um … willen, veranlasst durch
suffix: 1. eine Sache als Grund oder Ursache habend
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
How do you pronounce halber?
- /ˈhalbəʁ/
- [ˈhalbɐ]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is halber in German?
halber appears 7.8 times per million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).