Word.ws English Dictionary

half brother

/ˌhæfˈbɹʌðɚ/

half brother noun: 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.

Noun

half brother (plural half brothers or half brethren)

  1. 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.
  2. A male half sibling (same dam, different sires).

half brother meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Telugu

half brother in Hindi

male half-sibling
सौतेला भाई sautelā bhāī

half brother in Tamil

ஒருவழிச்சகோதரன்

half brother in Urdu

male half-sibling
سوتیلا بھائی soutela bhai

half brother in Telugu

male half-sibling
సవతి సోదరుడు savati sōdaruḍu
More languagesFewer languages
half brother in Malay
abang tiri, adik tiri
half brother in Persian
برادر ناتنی barâdar-e nâtani
half brother in Vietnamese
cùng mẹ khác cha, cùng cha khác mẹ

Forms of half brother

pluralhalf brothers
pluralhalf brethren
alternative formhalf-brother
alternative formhalfbrother

Origin of half brother

From Middle English half broþer, equivalent to half + brother. Cognate with Dutch halfbroer (“halfbrother”), German Halbbruder (“halfbrother”), Danish halvbroder (“halfbrother”), Swedish halvbroder, halvbror (“halfbrother”), Icelandic hálfbróðir (“halfbrother”).

Words formed from half brother

Questions about half brother

What does half brother mean?
Half brother means 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.
What is half brother in Hindi?
Half brother in Hindi is सौतेला भाई (sautelā bhāī). See Half brother meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is half brother?
Half brother is a noun.
How do you pronounce half brother?
Half brother is pronounced /ˌhæfˈbɹʌðɚ/ (US).
What is the plural of half brother?
The plural of half brother is half brothers.

Words near half brother in the dictionary

  1. half blue
  2. half blues
  3. half board
  4. half boards
  5. half brethren
  6. half brother
  7. half brother-in-law
  8. half brothers
  9. half brothers-in-law
  10. half bull
  11. half bulls

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: half brother (page history and authors); half brother (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-half brother.wav.

Cite this entry: “half brother.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/half_brother. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.