half brother
/ˌhæfˈbɹʌðɚ/
"half-brother" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“half brother” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A male sibling sharing a single parent, as distinguished from a full brother or brother-german, from a step-brother, or from a brother-like figure such as a blood brother.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | half brother |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌhæfˈbɹʌðɚ/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “half brother” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
half brother is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌhæfˈbɹʌðɚ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for half brother, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English half-brother, equivalent to half- + brother. Cognate with Dutch halfbroer (“halfbrother”), German Halbbruder (“halfbrother”), Danish halvbroder (“halfbrother”), Swedish halvbroder, halvbror (“halfbrother”), Icelandic hálfbróðir (“halfbro… The correct English form is half brother, spelled H-A-L-F- -B-R-O-T-H-E-R.
Definition
- 1A male sibling sharing a single parent, as distinguished from a full brother or brother-german, from a step-brother, or from a brother-like figure such as a blood brother.
- 2A male half sibling (same dam, different sires).
Etymology
From Middle English half-brother, equivalent to half- + brother. Cognate with Dutch halfbroer (“halfbrother”), German Halbbruder (“halfbrother”), Danish halvbroder (“halfbrother”), Swedish halvbroder, halvbror (“halfbrother”), Icelandic hálfbróðir (“halfbrother”).
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “half brother”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-A-L-F- -B-R-O-T-H-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌhæfˈbɹʌðɚ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.