halfling

American  

[haf-ling] / ˈhæf lɪŋ /

noun

1. (in fantasy stories, shows, or games) a member of a race of imaginary beings resembling humans but about half human size.

2. (in fantasy stories, shows, or games) an imaginary being having one human parent and one alien parent.

3. Chiefly Scot. a person who is halfway between a child and an adult; a youth.

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adjective

1. (in fantasy stories, shows, or games) being or relating to a halfling or a member of a halfling race.

2. Chiefly Scot. between a child and an adult; half-grown.

Etymology

Origin of halfling

First recorded in 1725–1735; half ( def. ) + -ling ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

A quick playbook for those who haven’t delved into this world before: Players announce their characters, along with their characters’ classes, levels and races — dwarf, elf, halfling, gnome, dragonborn.

From New York Times • May 21, 2022

What does he really think about some hairy-footed halfling and a bunch of do-gooders throwing his best costume jewellery into a volcano?

From The Guardian • Jun. 18, 2015

Martin Freeman is Tolkien's halfling hero and his "Sherlock" costar Benedict Cumberbatch supplies the voice of the fearsome dragon in Peter Jackson's 2013 sequel "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug."

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 22, 2014

Much has changed since the Icewind Dale Trilogy that introduced us to Drizzt and his friends: Wulfgar the barbarian, Regis the halfling, and Catti-Brie, the adopted human daughter of Bruenor the dwarf.

From Forbes • Mar. 5, 2013

And here he was a little halfling from the Shire, a simple hobbit of the quiet countryside, expected to find a way where the great ones could not go, or dared not go.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien