halt

C1 Topic:Verbs of Movement

US /hɔlt/ UK /hɒlt/ See IPA manual

noun verb adj Freq #4383

Meanings

1

verb
To stop, or to make something stop.

The police halted the traffic so the children could cross.
2

noun
A stop or pause in movement or activity.

The strike brought production to a complete halt.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to stop, or to make... stop

2 noun · a stop or pause in movement... stop freeze

More brake desistendpointfinish immobilize moratorium pause recess stay terminate terminus

Word family

Forms haltedhalts

Derived forms half-halthaltablehaltlessunhalted

Etymology

From Middle English halt, from Old English healt, from Proto-West Germanic *halt, from Proto-Germanic *haltaz (“halt, lame”), from Proto-Indo-European *kol-d-, from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to beat, strike, cut, slash”). Cognate with Danish halt, Swedish halt.

halt Middle English healt Old English *halt Proto-West Germanic *haltaz Proto-Germanic *kol-d- Proto-Indo-European *kel- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Verbs of Movement

# halt

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb, adj
**IPA (US):** hɔlt
**IPA (UK):** hɒlt
**Frequency rank:** 4383

## Meanings
1. To stop, or to make something stop.
2. A stop or pause in movement or activity.

## Examples
- The police halted the traffic so the children could cross.
- The strike brought production to a complete halt.

## Synonyms
- brake
- desist
- endpoint
- finish
- immobilize
- moratorium
- pause
- recess
- stay
- stop
- terminate
- terminus

## Derived Forms
- half-halt
- haltable
- haltless
- unhalted

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: halt
- Root: healt
- Root: *halt
- Root: *haltaz
- Root: *kol-d-
- Root: *kel-

## Etymology
From Middle English halt, from Old English healt, from Proto-West Germanic *halt, from Proto-Germanic *haltaz (“halt, lame”), from Proto-Indo-European *kol-d-, from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to beat, strike, cut, slash”). Cognate with Danish halt, Swedish halt.

## AI Etymology
Halt comes from Middle English halt, from Old English healt, from Proto-West Germanic *halt, from Proto-Germanic *haltaz (“halt, lame”), from Proto-Indo-European *kol-d-, from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to beat, strike, cut, slash”). Cognate with Danish halt, Swedish halt. The historical chain includes halt (Middle English), healt (Old English), *halt (Proto-West Germanic), *haltaz (Proto-Germanic), and *kol-d- (Proto-Indo-European). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as half-halt, haltable, haltless, and unhalted. In present use it covers to stop, or to make something stop and a stop or pause in movement or activity.

## Topics
- Verbs of Movement

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halt

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