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halt

German, adverb

halt is spelled H-A-L-T (4 letters) and appears 229 times per million words in written German, the 386th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Halt is a German adverb meaning “Indicating that something is generally known, or cannot be changed, or the like; often untranslatable; so, just, simply, indeed, well” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a singular imperative of halten. With a capital, Halt is a different word: “hold; adhesion”. With an umlaut, hält is a different word: “third-person singular present of halten”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “Gewohnheit und Beständigkeit betreffend”.

What does halt mean in English?

interjection

  1. 1

    stop!, wait!

adverb

  1. 1

    colloquialIndicating that something is generally known, or cannot be changed, or the like; often untranslatable; so, just, simply, indeed, well

    Er ist halt ein Idiot.

verb

  1. 1

    singular imperative of halten

noun

as Halt
  1. 1

    masculinehold; adhesion

  2. 2

    masculinefoothold; grip

  3. 3

    masculinesupport

  4. 4

    masculinestop (e.g. of a train)

  5. 5

    masculinehalt; cessation

verb

as hält
  1. 1

    third-person singular present of halten

Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How German dictionaries define it

noun: 1. Station eines Verkehrsmittels, an der dieses hält 2. Aufhören oder Unterbrechung einer Bewegung, einer Aktivität 3. Stütze 4. Stütze

adverb: 1. Gewohnheit und Beständigkeit betreffend 2. Ausdruck, der einer Aufforderung oder einem Ratschlag Nachdruck verleiht

interjection: 1. nicht weiter!

The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.

Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.

Forms of halt

  • halt! canonical
  • Haltes genitive
  • Halts genitive
  • Halte plural
  • Halten dative definite plural
  • H. abbreviation

Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

English words that translate to halt

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is halt in German?

halt appears 229 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).

What to look up after halt