halfway
/ˌhæfˈweɪ/adverb, adjective
halfway is spelled H-A-L-F-W-A-Y: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,456th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “half-way vs halfway” about 40 times a month (Google, United States). As an adverb, halfway means “Half of the way between two points” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in halfway?
| Letters | 7: H-A-L-F-W-A-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 11 times per million words; the 6,456th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is halfway?
Halfway appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,456th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce halfway?
- US /ˌhæfˈweɪ/
- UK /hɑːfˈweɪ/
Halfway has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-halfway.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with halfway
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: half-way (one word or two).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with halfway?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as halfway from its last stressed vowel (/eɪ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of halfway
- half-way
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does halfway mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
Half of the way between two points.
I was already halfway home when I missed my keyring.
- 2
Moderately; somewhat.
a halfway decent place to sleep
adjective
- 1
Middle; midway; being in the middle of the way or distance.
John blacked out at the halfway point of the marathon.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Halfway in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense midway:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | (à) mi-chemin |
| German | halbwegs |
| Portuguese | na metade |
| Spanish | a mediados, a mitad de, a caballo entre, por la mitad |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does halfway come from?
From Middle English halfwey, from Old English healfweġ (“half-way”), equivalent to half- + way. Compare partway.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).