half brother

See also: halfbrother and half-brother

English

Alternative forms

• half-brother, halfbrother

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”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌhæfˈbɹʌðɚ/

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.

Hypernyms

• relative; sibling; half sibling, half-sibling

Hyponyms

• (a half-brother sharing the same mother): uterine brother; maternal half brother, maternal half-brother
• (a half-brother sharing the same father): paternal half-brother

Derived terms

• half brother-in-law

Related terms

• half cousin, half-cousin
• half sister, half-sister
• half uncle, half-uncle

 

Translations

a male half-sibling

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (maternal) 同母異父, 同母异父 (tóngmǔyìfù) (+ words for elder/younger brother), (paternal) 同父異母, 同父异母 (tóngfùyìmǔ) (+ words for elder/younger brother)

• Czech: nevlastní bratr m
• Dutch: halfbroer (nl) m, halfbroeder m
• Esperanto: duonfrato
• Faroese: hálvbróðir m, hálvbeiggi m
• Finnish: velipuoli (fi)
• French: demi-frère (fr) m
• Georgian: ნახევარძმა (naxevarʒma)
• German: Halbbruder (de) m
• Greek: ετεροθαλής αδελφός m (eterothalís adelfós)
• Hindi: सौतेला भाई m (sautelā bhāī)
• Hungarian: féltestvér (hu)
• Icelandic: hálfbróðir m
• Irish: leathdheartháir m, leasdeartháir m
• Italian: mezzo fratello, fratellastro (it) m
• Japanese: 異父母兄弟 (ifubo-kyōdai)
• Korean: 의붓 형제 (uibut hyeongje)
• Latin: (maternal) frater uterinus, (paternal) frater consanguineus

• Latvian: pusbrālis m
• Macedonian: полубрат m (polubrat)
• Malay: abang tiri (elder), adik tiri (younger)
• Maltese: ħu tan-nofs
• Norman: d'mié-fréthe m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: halvbror m

  Nynorsk: halvbror m

• Polish: brat przyrodni m
• Portuguese: meio-irmão (pt) m
• Romanian: frate pe jumătate m
• Russian: (maternal) единоутро́бный брат (ru) m (jedinoutróbnyj brat), (paternal) единокро́вный брат (ru) m (jedinokróvnyj brat)
• Scottish Gaelic: leth-bhràthair m
• Spanish: medio hermano m, hermanastro m
• Swedish: halvbror (sv), halvbroder (sv)
• Taos: (younger) p’ǫ́yna, (older) pòpóna
• Telugu: సవతి సోదరుడు (savati sōdaruḍu)
• Urdu: سوتیلا بھائی‎ m (soutela bhai)

See also

• stepbrother