half-ass
/ˈhæfæs/
"half-ass" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“half-ass” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Produced in an incompetent or desultory manner, or of something lacking in quality or substance; of low rank; incompetent.
Corpus desk
Index EN-half-ass · half-ass · English
half-ass · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "H" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | half-ass |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈhæfæs/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “half-ass” in English
Rare enough to double-check
half-ass is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈhæfæs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Produced in an incompetent or desultory manner, or of something lacking in quality or substance; of low rank; incompetent.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for half-ass in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From half + -ass, see half-assed. The correct English form is half-ass, spelled H-A-L-F---A-S-S.
Definition
- 1Produced in an incompetent or desultory manner, or of something lacking in quality or substance; of low rank; incompetent.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how half-ass appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
the only abortion she could get even in the city would be a half-ass job by some half-ass doctor who could mess her up for the rest of her life
Etymology
From half + -ass, see half-assed.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.