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hemisphere

UK /ˈhɛmɪsfɪə/noun

hemisphere is a noun meaning “Half of the celestial sphere, as divided by either the ecliptic or the celestial equator” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled H-E-M-I-S-P-H-E-R-E and has 3 syllables, and it appears 4.9 times per million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of hemisphere is hemispheres.

What does hemisphere mean?

noun

  1. 1

    Half of the celestial sphere, as divided by either the ecliptic or the celestial equator .

  2. 2

    A realm or domain of activity .

  3. 3

    Half of the Earth, such as the Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, Western Hemisphere or Eastern Hemisphere, Land Hemisphere, Water Hemisphere etc. .

  4. 4

    Any half-sphere, formed by a plane intersecting the center of a sphere. .

  5. 5

    A map or projection of a celestial or terrestrial hemisphere .

  6. 6

    Either of the two halves of the cerebrum. .

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce hemisphere?

  • UK /ˈhɛmɪsfɪə/
  • British /ˈhɛmɪsfɪː/
  • British /ˈhɛmɪsfɪj.ə/

Hemisphere has 3 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-hemisphere.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of hemisphere

  • hemispheres plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is hemisphere?

Hemisphere appears 4.9 times per million words in written English, the 11,373rd 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).

Hemisphere in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchhémisphère (half of the Earth)
GermanHemisphäre, Halbkugel (half of the Earth)
Portuguesehemisfério (half of the Earth)
Spanishhemisferio (half of the Earth), semiesfera (any half-sphere)

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 hemisphere come from?

From Latin hemisphaerium, from Ancient Greek ἡμισφαίριον (hēmisphaírion), from ἡμι- (hēmi-, “half”) + σφαῖρα (sphaîra, “sphere”). Equivalent to hemi- + sphere. Displaced native Old English healftrendel (literally “half-sphere”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).