Word.ws English Dictionary

half step

half step noun: the distance between two tones. In 12-tone equal temperament, its frequency ratio is 2^(1/12), or about 1.059 or 18/17.

half step: the distance between two tones. In 12-tone equal temperament, its frequency ratio is 2^(1/12), or...
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Noun

half step (plural half steps)

  1. (US) The distance between two tones. In 12-tone equal temperament, its frequency ratio is 2^(1/12), or about 1.059 or 18/17.

Forms of half step

pluralhalf steps

Questions about half step

What does half step mean?
Half step means the distance between two tones. In 12-tone equal temperament, its frequency ratio is 2^(1/12), or about 1.059 or 18/17.
What part of speech is half step?
Half step is a noun.
What is the plural of half step?
The plural of half step is half steps.

Words near half step in the dictionary

  1. half spaces
  2. half stack
  3. half stacks
  4. half staff
  5. half staffs
  6. half step
  7. half steps
  8. half term
  9. half terms
  10. half the battle
  11. half the story

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: half step (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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Cite this entry: “half step.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/half_step. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.