anderthalb

German

Etymology

From Old High German andar halb, anderhalb (literally “second half”). Anderthalb is the single surviving relic of an older system to describe fractions, which counted from the higher ordinal number rather than the lower cardinal. Compare Old English ōþer healf, Dutch anderhalf, Danish halvanden. Compare also the use of the word halb in the sense of a half-hour before the following hour, such as halb zwei to mean one thirty. The word anderer has since lost the meaning "second", being used solely as "other" in modern German.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /andərthalb/, [ˈɑndɐtʰˈhɑlpʰ], [ˈandɐtʰˈhalpʰ] (most of Germany, some of Austria)
• IPA^(key): /andərthalb/, [ˈɑnd̥ərtˈhɑlb̥] (Switzerland, some of Austria and southern Germany)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Numeral

anderthalb

1. one and a half (1+¹⁄₂), sesqui-

   Synonym: eineinhalb

   In den vergangenen anderthalb Jahren haben wir also schon einiges erreicht.

   In the last year and a half, we have notched up some achievements.

Related terms

• dritthalb (“two and a half”)

Further reading

• “anderthalb” in Duden online
• “anderthalb” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache