Skip to main content

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. 1

    archaica half-hour before, thirty minutes before (used with the number of the following hour)

    Wir treffen uns um halber zwei.

postposition

  1. 1

    for the sake of.

    der Vollständigkeit halber

adjective

  1. 1

    masculinestrong/mixed nominative masculine singular

  2. 2

    femininestrong genitive/dative feminine singular

  3. 3

    strong genitive plural

suffix

as -halber
  1. 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).